Gatecrash
by The Wallflower
Summary: Zelda & Mega Man Crossover. Fantasy meets future as Link finds a metal man from another world while on a new quest. Can they stop fighting with each other and work as a team to battle the looming threat over Hyrule?
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

_This story is in no way intended to infringe on the established copyrights and trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. or Nintendo Co., Ltd. It is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended for sale. It may be freely distributed providing that no alterations to the story are made._

  


The characters and incidents portrayed and the names in this story used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person, living, dead, or otherwise, is purely coincidental and unintentional.

  


For your reference, today you will have: mega trouble.

  


* * *

It is a time of science and knowledge

It is a time of wizardry and magic

  


It is a time of engineers and laboratories

It is a time of knights and castles

  


It is a time of harvesting the world

It is a time of harvesting the land

  


It is a time of the future

It is a time of the past

  


But through a course of events these two worlds will collide through a phenomenon known as... 

  


**_GATECRASH_**

  


**by**

**Eric Juneau**

  


_Chapter 1: The Beginning_

"Roll, can you get me another apple?" Dr. Light's voice came from the small intercom by the door. 

The hum of the rod-like carpet cleaner dwindled to silence as Roll shut it off and leaned it against an end table. She approached the intercom and pressed the talk button. 

"Right away, Dr. Light," she spoke into it. She would need to return to vacuuming after she had finished fulfilling Dr. Light's orders. Roll turned around and headed out of the comfortable drawing room. 

This was one of the few rooms in Dr. Light's mansion that was meant solely for human occupancy. There was soft carpet, comfortable chairs, sofas, a wall-hanging from India, as well as miscellaneous decorative touches around the room, all meaningless and irrelevant to Roll. Even though her insides were made of alloys and metals, on the outside she looked like any other girl. In fact, her blond hair, done up in a ponytail, and her youthful appearance made her quite beautiful. 

But being a robot she had no need for comfort or eye-pleasing decoration. However, her prime directive was Dr. Light's housekeeping so she had to visit these types of rooms often in order to clean them. The laboratories where Dr. Light performed his experiments and research needed little cleaning because they contained self-sanitizing systems. About the only times she needed to be in the lab were when Dr. Light spilled one of his chemicals or when he wanted to upgrade her programming. 

Roll headed to the house's pantry using her house map program. This was another room frequently visited by her as she was responsible for cooking Dr. Light's meals, a far better alternative to the 'instant ramen' diet he ate before he made her. She entered the small closet behind the kitchen and approached the Food Rehydration Unit, which semi-replaced the large pantry area some decades ago. When food is dehydrated it takes up less space, so it could all be stored into one simple machine for later use. Roll had use for it now and activated the rehydration matrix. 

"Apple," she said into the small speaker in front of her. The machine began whirring silently, selecting the proper food from the massive library inside it, rehydrating the apple to the proper specifications, and depositing the red fruit in front of the receiving slot. 

A little red door pleasantly beeped open. Roll lifted the hinged glass door up and took the apple from the plate. As she reversed her course and headed down to the lab she realized this was the fifth time Dr. Light had asked for an apple to be brought to him. Her newly installed curiosity program became activated, creating questions and possible theories as to the reason he needed these apples. The primary purpose of an apple was for eating. He could have wanted them for nourishment, as a snack, but logic dictated that he would have wanted more variety than five apples in a row. Another purpose was in order to grow apple trees. But again, the patterns of Dr. Light indicated he had no interest in gardening, especially since apples were already being provided to him. She resolved to ask the roboticst why he needed so many apples when she arrived. 

As the doors slid out of her way she saw Dr. Light working attentively behind a large empty metal circle about twice the height of the doctor. Beside the circle was a control box, obviously meant for operating the circle, whatever it did. 

"I have the apple you wanted, Dr. Light," Roll said, announcing her presence. Dr. Light hooked his arm on the top of the metal console and hoisted himself up to see Roll standing in front of the door. 

"Yes, thank you, Roll. Come in. Just stand over here for a minute." Light went back to tweaking and prodding the control box as Roll stepped up to his side. 

Now her interest was peaked. What did five apples and a large metal circle share in common? "Dr. Light, what is this?" she queried. 

"I'm glad you asked," he replied enthusiastically, "Not because it shows your curiosity program is working, which is good, but it gives me a chance to practice my explanation when I complete this invention and announce it so that-" 

"Dr. Light," Roll interrupted, "You're rambling again." 

"Oh, sorry, it's just that I'm excited." Light snapped his head to the circle before him and pointed. "This device is a new type of teleporter. What I'm hoping it will do is improve the range and localization over old teleporters. It should be able to bypass large concentrations of tachyon fields that prevent material being deposited there. You know how when Dr. Wily's robots attack I can only drop off your brother in a very general location. It would be very much quicker if I could transport him directly." 

"I see," Roll replied, "And why do you need the apple?" 

"Well, I haven't exactly tested it out yet and I need an organic substance so that when it becomes available for human use it won't disintegrate them or anything like that," Dr. Light said amicably. 

Roll nodded and held up the apple for her master, all her questions having been answered. The robot scientist took it and placed it on a tool tray beside him. 

"Thank you, if I need anymore apples I'll tell you." 

Roll nodded and walked out of Dr. Light's laboratory.   


* * *

With a stroke of his sword, Link deflected the spear headed straight for his head. He lunged forward and slashed the moblin across its protruding belly. The bulldog-like creature outstretched his arms in panic right before he disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Link switched his attention to the two remaining moblins behind him who were slowly creeping up. He grabbed for his bow slung behind him and held it in ready position. The moblins kept coming and Link fired two arrows rapidly at each advancing foe. Each arrow struck true and vanquished the two enemies immediately. 

The intrepid hero wiped the sweat from his forehead and replaced the bow. Reaching for his knapsack he pulled out his canteen and took two great big gulps of water. His work done, he headed out of the woods and back into the open plains of Hyrule, his homeland. The forest was situated close to the Hylian palace so Link took almost no time getting back to his current residence. His boots click-clacked on the lime-green cobblestone walkway leading to the trellis gate. There was a yellow Triforce symbol painted on the walkway and Link stared down at it while waiting for the gate to rise. 

The Golden Power, also known as the Triforce, was a remnant left by the gods of wisdom, courage, and power, after their creation of the world. It held the power to grant wishes to anyone who touched it, evil or good. After he had won it back from the evil hands of Ganon, Link dispelled the cloud of evil over Hyrule with its ability. Link wished for many things, all good and all restoring Hyrule to an order of light. Link's great deeds earned him an important place among the people of the palace. 

As Link approached the castle's interior, the two armored guards nodded their heads to their great hero. He entered the castle and saw Zelda standing ahead of him, talking to a servant. 

Zelda was a very pretty, young girl, about the same age as Link, with reddish-blond hair and gentle blue eyes. She wore a small amulet across her head and a blue and white dress. Her youth showed in her personality, but in no way did she let it prevent her from being an active political leader. 

"Link," she said as she looked at his worn form. "Link, what happened?" she rushed over to him. 

"Another moblin attack," Link replied. He coughed weakly from the dust he had picked up. Of course, he was no stranger to a battle-weary condition, and he was hardly in pain, but Zelda's doting certainly made things better. 

"Again? That's the third time in four days." 

"I know. I'm the one who fought them." 

"You aren't hurt, are you?" 

"No, I'll be all right." 

Zelda turned and started pacing around the great hall. "What are we going to do? These 'moblins' never even appeared until several days ago." 

"They always seem to stay in the forest though," Link said, trying to reassure her. 

"I just hope they stay there. If they get into Kakariko..." The mysterious forest was directly north of Hyrule's largest village. If the moblins did decide to move out of their dark shelter, Kakariko village would most likely be first attacked. This was something Zelda and Link both knew could be devastating for the largest concentration of Hyrule's citizens, possibly destroying its greatest village. 

Link breathed a deep sigh. He took off his backpack, which held all his inventory, and sat down on one of the red and gold velvet chairs adjacent to the hallway wall. 

"Link, maybe you should go lie down or something, you look tired," Zelda said. 

"I'll be fine," Link replied, "I survived getting the Triforce, I'll survive this." 

"I'm going to convene a council of elders to decide how we're going to solve this," Zelda suggested. 

"Good idea," Link said, "I'll be resting." _Recuperating_, Link silently amended. Zelda zoomed down the hall, leaving Link alone with his thoughts. Who were these moblins? They attacked in packs of four or five, seeming to just emerge out of the bushes. They wore the armor of soldiers but attacked like animals, organized, and yet frenzied. Where did they come from? What was their purpose? Why did they attack? How were they able to get the jump on him so easily? The answers seemed to escape him, but he knew he'd fight them again before he had an answer. 

**Next Chapter: The Prophecy**


	2. Chapter 2: The Prophecy

_Chapter 2: The Prophecy_

Roll finished the cleaning of the drawing room and moved into the next. This room was similar to the drawing room, but in here there was a large monitor in the wall for the Hypernet, successor to the Internet, where one could access all sorts of entertainment and information through linked computer networks. 

Apparently, Dr. Light had left the monitor on the news page. It was currently showing a streaming video of an anchorwoman giving the top news stories of the day. 

"...And the fifth meeting of the United Nations Confederation convened in order to discuss possible revisions to the Laws of Robotics. 

"The revisions would allow for the selective editing of the first law so that robots may do work that has a low probability of possible harm to humans. Several nations believe certain provisions must be made to the statutes to allow for robots to do work that may cause harm to humans, no matter how low probability. General-in-Chief Rutger Gomez is meeting with the Secretary of Technology today in the White House in order to formulate a presentation to the United Nations Council." 

"In a related story, Dr. Albert Wily, the leader behind the Robot Revolutions, is now being moved to a maximum security penitentiary in Siberia." 

Roll's interest was peaked now. Dr. Wily had been Dr. Light's assistant many years ago before Roll was made. He helped design Roll as well as another robot, her brother Rock. After these two successes the genius duo created six more robots that were designed for various industrial work such as tree-felling and waste-disposal. Unfortunately, Dr. Wily went insane for some reason and reprogrammed all six robots to attack and take over various sects of the world. Wily attempted five more times and after the sixth Robot Revolution, Mega Man succeeded in capturing him and putting him behind bars. 

As the news story about the doctor finished, Roll shut off the Net monitor and realized she had not seen her brother in a while. Perhaps he'd like to know about this piece of news. Roll decided that her duties could wait for a little time while she checked in on Mega Man. 

After a time of searching through the manor, she finally came to the white laboratory room where she saw her brother sitting before a large terminal with his back to her. He often spent his free time in the computer labs rather than the house, because this was where he felt the most comfortable. Before his transformation he wore normal clothes, but now he wore a blue titanium armor skin. When in battle he wore a helmet, but now his unruly brown hair was free. Two jacks were plugged into either side of his head, in his ears, and he seemed to be staring up at the terminal's monitor, but the screen was completely blank. 

Roll strided over to him and looked into his face. She saw that he had his eyes closed and was lying back in his chair, totally still. 

"Rock?" she said as she shook his shoulder. "Rock, are you okay?" Roll grabbed the two jacks and yanked them out of his head. Rock jumped up with a start, waving his arms around and shouting excitedly. 

"Aaaaaah! What, what?" he yelled and looked up at Roll. "What are you doing? You could have short circuited me." 

"I wouldn't have short circuited you," she replied in a satiric tone. "What are you doing hooked up to the computer anyway?" 

"I was listening to some music, if you don't mind." 

"What kind? More rock & roll?" Roll asked. Dr. Light, in his youth, was heavily into all kinds of music and so he had a habit of naming his robotic creations after musical terms. 

"No, Dr. Light suggested I try something else. Something called 'Heavy Metal'." 

"'Heavy metal'? What does that sound like?" 

"It's sort of like rock & roll, only with a lot more electric instruments and bass." 

"Really." 

"Yeah. Here, listen," Mega Man picked up the two jacks and handed them to Roll. She carefully injected them into her ears. The bits of information flowed into her CPU, letting her listen to the lugubrious tunes. 

"It seems depressing, too." Roll commented, although she didn't have emotions she had enough artificial intelligence to react in an emotional way. 

"True," Mega Man replied, "A lot of songwriters and musicians into this type of music took illegal drugs and often died." 

"That's terrible," Roll said horrified. 

"I know, but that's human nature for you. I'm glad we made it past all that nonsense." 

The monitor flashed with an incoming transmission. "Wha?" Rock commented. 

He accessed the communication terminal to open the connection. A police officer came on the screen. 

"Mega Man, good to talk to you." 

"The same, officer. What can I do for you?" 

"I have bad news. Dr. Wily escaped from prison this morning." 

"What?" 

"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Roll put a hand to her forehead in exasperation. 

"I'm afraid it's true. We were moving him from the Siberian CF, but he busted out during the transfer using some sort of explosive device. We have no knowledge of his location or intentions." 

"I don't think we need to bother with finding his intentions," Rock mentioned. "Those are pretty common knowledge." 

The officer continued. "Let Dr. Light know right away. We'll continue searching on our end." 

"Thanks." Rock closed the connection. 

"The finest technology in the world and we can't keep one guy locked up," Roll muttered. 

"You go find Dr. Light and tell him the bad news. I'm going to make sure the security protocols are set up." 

"All right," Roll said and sprinted back to where she was just a few minutes ago. 

Rock pulled his chair up to the computer console and accessed the house's security program using the Presspad interface. The first thing he did was change the status to red alert. An escaped Dr. Wily was no blithe matter. The sign on the security gates would display that the mansion was currently at a red level, which meant restricted access to those on the grounds. Laser trip wires were engaged, sonar, anti-trespasser cannons, cameras, and an anti-teleport field. Basically anyone who came in off the beaten path would encounter a nasty surprise. Rock quickly scanned through each of the security cameras to check if there was anything suspicious already in the house. There wasn't. Everything seemed secure for now. 

Rock leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. The chances that another Robot Revolution was on the way were incredibly likely. Probably not soon though. Wily would need a chance to build eight new robots like he did every time and send them out across the world's crucial juncture points, like he did every time. It was no wonder Rock could always beat him. 

Suddenly the ground vibrated roughly as he heard a muffled explosion. Red lights flashed through the room as a siren erupted in the halls. 

"What th'?" Rock yelled. 

He pulled up the security cameras to see what was happening. At the front door camera he saw exactly what he didn't want to see. 

The entire front wall of the house was destroyed, collapsed into rubble. A gigantic silver round robot-tank was plodding through the living room, breaking up the floor's tiles where it stepped with its huge titanium feet. 

On its stomach was a big stylized 'W'.   


* * *

Zelda looked out of the window, gazing out at the beautiful countryside. It was amazing how much progress had been made since Ganon's coming and his near destruction of their precious land. His soldiers ravaged the landscape, the imbalance of evil and good combined with the disappearance of the Triforce wreaked havoc on the weather, the land, and the animals, making the whole land barely habitable. Thieves ran amok through the country, hiding in caves and forests waiting for an unsuspecting passerby to cross their paths. But now, with the recovery of the Triforce and the return of the king, Hyrule was once again a land of prosperity. 

"So what am I going to do, Impa?" she said as she looked out. 

A woman with long, white hair and a haggard, kind face replacing Zelda's bed sheets replied. "Oh, my dear, don't ask me. The only things I know how to do are wash socks and cure a fever." Impa had been Zelda's nursemaid ever since the princess was born. 

"You know more than that, Impa." Zelda shied away from the windows. "You've helped me through some of my most difficult times when I was growing up." 

Impa stopped folding the sheets of the bed for a moment and looked out into space with a dreamy gaze. "Ahh, you were such a precious little thing when you were young. I remember the time you ran around all the castle hallways without any clothes on."

"Impa!" Zelda said, obviously embarrassed. 

"You were taking your bath and I turned to get the soap, and you jumped out and-" 

"Impa, that's enough!" she exclaimed, smiling. 

knock, knock, knock "Princess Zelda, Princess Zelda!" Impa opened the door, a pageboy burst in, looking exasperated. "Princess Zelda, the three pendants are missing!" 

"What!" 

The three pendants were the key to unlocking the Master Sword, a sacred weapon forged centuries ago to repulse the powers of evil. When Link had vanquished all his foes and restored the land he put the sword back in its secret place in the lost forest, where it would sleep forever. 

"Oh my goodness, what shall we do, what shall we do, we're doomed, we're all doom-" Impa threw up her hands and ran around in circles. 

"Calm down, Impa," Zelda said. She was worried too, but she composed herself. "Show me."

At the vault, the doors were open and two people were scouting the vault room. One was the royal investigator searching the floor for clues of a physical nature. The other was a magician, detecting traces of magic energy. Ganymede Noktwor, one of the royal advisors, came up to Zelda. He was a foot taller than her and sported clearly defined features and a long thin mustache. "I took the liberty of ordering a full investigation as soon as I heard the news." 

"Well done. Have they found anything yet?" 

"Ow," the detective said as he bumped his head on the table. The vizier looked with disdain and turned back to Zelda. 

"Unfortunately, our investigative team is somewhat lacking." 

"What...?" 

"These two are only apprentices. Our wizard has Mountain Flu and the investigator general is on sabbatical." 

A fine time, Zelda thought. "All right, let's think about this." 

"Dear Zelda, perhaps the Seer shall shed some light on our dilemma," Impa piped up. 

Zelda thought for a while about this. The Seer was the royal fortune teller. There were several throughout the kingdom, but the Seer was the one who had shown enough accuracy in his prophecies to be appointed to the service of the royal family. Since Zelda had no other ideas, she thought it would be the best thing to do.

"All right. Find Link, wherever he is. Tell him the news and tell him to come to the Seer with me," she said to Noktwor. 

The man quickly bowed his head and hustled off to find him. 

Zelda started off to where the fortune teller's keep in the palace was. "Fantastic, first we have a group of monsters terrorizing the people and now this." 

"Just don't say 'what else can go wrong'," Impa suggested. 

Moments later, Link and Zelda met in the Seer's chamber. It was filled with dusty, old, crumbling books on two walls. A ratted, red curtain blocked their view of the back wall. In assorted areas around the room, there were beakers and jars filled with colorful liquids, and in some cases, animal body parts. Link inspected a bottle bubbling with red potion while waiting. In the middle of the room was the Seer's crystal ball, his chief tool of his trade. 

All this was quite familiar to Link. In his quest to save the Triforce he visited many of the fortune tellers in Hyrule for suggestions and directions when he was first starting out. All their buildings looked pretty much the same. 

"So where is he?" Link asked. 

"Right here," a voice behind them said. Zelda jumped a little from the startling words of the Seer. 

"There you are," Link said. 

"Oh, yes. I am here. You can always find me here. Here is where we are, and here is where we stay," the foreteller said as he scuttled across the room to his crystal ball. He was a small man, wearing a large hooded robe that cloaked his face in shadow. His long train dragged across the floor. When he moved he made little jerky steps like his feet were tied together. "Now, the problem, always a problem when you come to see me, yes, yes, got to go, got to solve the problem. What's the problem?" 

Link looked at Zelda and then at the Seer. "The pendants of the Master Sword are missing." 

If the Seer's head hadn't obscured their view, Link and Zelda would have seen his face light up. 

"Oooooh, the prophecy of the three pendants. The blade of evil's bane. I was hoping this I would see before I passed on. Yes, the three pendants," The Seer jumped up from his crystal ball and scurried over to the bookcase, fingering the ancient library. 

"What is the prophecy of the three pendants? I thought all the prophecies were resolved when Link recovered the Triforce," Zelda asked. 

"The future, the future is always changing, always forming. Never is it written in stone." He finally found the volume he was looking for and plucked it out of the rack. "A-ha, here it is," he said flipping through the pages. "The prophecy of the pendants of the Master Sword," he read, "And it shall come to pass - the pendants shall vanish from the hands of the good, and he shall quest for them. And it is written, that the Hero of Cataclysm's Eve shall be joined by a man of metal, with an arm of light, and this man shall not be of this world and he will befriend the Hero, and together, the two will face many dangers... yadda, yadda, yadda," the Seer finished as he slammed the book shut, creating a puff of dust. "You get the picture." 

"A man of metal with an arm of light," Zelda wondered aloud. 

"Sounds like fun. Where do I start?" Link said. 

"Start, got to start, every journey begins with a single step, single step. We must use the crystal ball. The ball will tell us, the ball will show us the way," the Seer answered as he scooted over to the central table. 

Zelda was beginning to wish she'd appointed a more coherent fortune teller. 

"All right," he said as he sat down to the bluish orb resting on a cushion surrounded by candles. "Let's see what we can see," he began to wave his hands over the ball. "I see, I see leaves... and shadows... leaves and shadows, shadows and leaves, grass, logs, trees..." 

"The forest," Link said. 

"Bingo! You win the jackpot!" the Seer responded. 

"So the quest begins in the mysterious forest," Zelda said as she stood. 

"I'll begin packing right away," Link said. The two stood up and began to walk out, "Thank you very much for your insight." 

"Oh wait," the Seer interrupted, "I will now take fifteen of your rupees." 

**Next Chapter: Rabbit Hole**


	3. Chapter 3: Rabbit Hole

_Chapter 3: Rabbit Hole_

"No way!" Rock exclaimed, "No way Wily could have made it all the way to here from Siberia in that short amount of time." He pounded his fist on the table. 

Wily's tank advanced over the concrete debris, swinging his tank's robotic arms, demolishing the house with each step. Rock could almost hear his maniacal laughter from the console. He hadn't the time to comprehend how or why this was happening, only that it was time to do his duty. 

Rock activated the comm system on the computer, "Roll, we've got big trouble. Get Dr. Light down to safety right now!" 

"What's happening? What was that tremor?" came her disembodied voice. 

"It's Wily. No time for details, just get him to the underground shelter right now." 

"OK." Click. 

Rock jumped up from the chair and sped off to the robot lab. 

The lab had various utilities that Light used to improve his humanoid robots, but this lab was special to Rock, because it was where he was changed into Mega Man, and where all his subsequent upgrades were made. 

The only upgrade Rock needed right now though was his helmet. It was based on an old war bomber helmet, colored blue, with two metallic receptors covering his ears. He grabbed it from a table and fastened it over his head. Now he was truly Mega Man. 

The blue bomber checked his Mega Buster - it was at full power, though there was nothing in his weapon inventory. But he had the home court advantage and the assistance of his battle robots Dr. Light created for him. 

Now would be an excellent time for Rush, he thought. Mega Man activated Rush's call and a red dog appeared before him. Rush was created to be Mega Man's friend and multi-purpose transportation as he used a special transformation chip to change into a variety of vehicles, including a submarine and a suit of armor. 

"Jet, Rush," Mega Man commanded. The smiling, panting Rush tucked in his legs and flattened his back and in no time had changed to a jet sled. Mega Man stepped on top of Rush's platform back. 

"Let's go!" Mega Man yelled. Rush zoomed off into the halls. The flares from his tailpipe lit the hallways amid the circling red sirens. As he neared the front of the building he could hear Wily's tank destroying his home, creating vibrations in the air. 

Mega Man burst out of the tunnel at full speed and climbed in altitude. The bright light of day shone down on him from the open air now surrounding the living room. Wily's tank had already demolished a large chunk of their home. Open floors were visible, walls torn off. 

Wasting no time, Mega Man began firing at the robot tank. The plasma bursts hit the armor with an ineffective clink and reflected away harmlessly. The entire machine was made out of litanium - plasma proof armor. Mega Man's blaster would be completely ineffective. 

But there was always a weakness, there had to be. Some part of the machine had to be vulnerable, usually it was some sort of crystal-like outcropping. Mega Man flew his jet around the robot's circumference, looking for some sort of weak point, shooting at likely places. The slow tank rotated with Mega Man, tracking him. "Grrr," Mega Man exclaimed, not finding anything. "Come on, Wily. Show yourself!" 

The armored bubble on top of the robot slid away, revealing Wily in his control booth, furiously pounding at buttons and levers. "Good to see you again, blue bomber," Dr. Wily's voice boomed over a loudspeaker in the tank. 

"Yeah, same to you," Mega Man leveled his buster at Wily and fired a charged shot. The blast diffused harmlessly. 

"Ha ha ha ha ha..." Wily laughed maniacally. "Anything else you'd like to try?" Wily turned the robot to face Mega Man. "How do you like my new robot design? State of the art armor. Not a weak point anywhere." 

"There's always a weak point, Wily. Always." 

"Ho ho ho ho... is that what you think? Sorry, not this time, little blue man. I decided instead of waiting for you to come to me, I'd take the bull by the horns." 

"Bad choice, Wily. Now you're on my turf, and you're not getting away. Not in that turtle of a robot." 

"Ah, but guess what? This robot is not an attack weapon. It's a transport carrier!" 

The stomach of the robot burst open and five robot masters poured out - Shadow Man, Elec Man, Magnet Man, Gemini Man, and Gravity Man. 

"He's mine!" Magnet Man shouted. The speeding robot jumped like a rocket and fired a trio of magnet missiles from his arm. Mega Man maneuvered Rush out of the way just in time and fired a powered-up buster shot. The shot impacted on Magnet Man's armor and just fizzled out. He fired again and Magnet Man just laughed as the shots dissipated away. 

"How do you like my shield, Mega-moron?" Magnet Man said. Mega Man fired at Gemini Man behind him, resulting in the same effect. Mega Man couldn't believe it. Had Dr. Wily invented something he couldn't defeat? No way, he thought, every opponent has a weakness. Mega Man maneuvered Rush to flank Magnet Man and leapt off, tackling him. Both tumbled to the ground and rolled to a broken section of the wall as Wily's robot-tank crashed its arm down, trying to smash the little blue robot. They rolled to a corner and Mega Man landed a right cross on Magnet Man's face. On a robot, this was like pounding sand, but it turned his head for a moment so that Mega Man could grab a broken off girder and drop it on Magnet Man's head. The robot master began to flail his arms around, trying to get it off. 

_So the shields are only good against plasma shots,_ he thought. Mega Man jumped off and called back to Rush. Now all the robots began firing their weapons - lasers, missiles, and plasma. He narrowly missed their concentrated onslaught as Rush flew him out of danger back into the house. 

"Thanks Rush, I'll get you an extra dog biscuit after this, if we survive." 

"Woof," Rush barked in acknowledgment as he zoomed through the corridor, sloping downwards. The blue robot twisted his head and saw all the robots trailing after him. Elec Man was ahead of them, jumping great distances, but limited by the ceiling of the corridor. 

"Not zo fazt, Mega Man," Elec Man buzzed. 

"Hurry, Rush, try to lose them." Rush barked compliantly and flew left. "Get into that lab, Rush. I've got an idea," Mega Man commanded. The robo-dog pushed his afterburners to the limit. Mega Man knew Rush's power had to be low by now, but he had confidence in his companion. Elec Man was right behind them. 

Mega Man flew into the lab and jumped off Rush. He twisted his body around in mid-air and shot out the door panel. Elec Man jumped through the hall and landed in the middle of the doorway. Suddenly, the titanium emergency door came dropping down like a guillotine. He was crushed under the weight and exploded in flashes of energy shooting out. 

"Yes! He's hot tonight!" Mega Man exclaimed. He jumped up and spread his arms out. The energy spheres returned and became absorbed through the robot's armor. Mega Man's weapon copy system analyzed Elec Man's weapon - the thunder beam - and added it to the inventory. 

It wasn't over yet though. The other robots were on the other side of the wall and began firing on the emergency door. Punch marks started protruding out. 

"Better get out of here, Rush," Mega Man said. "I'll call you when I need you." 

Rush whimpered, not wanting to follow this order. 

"Go! Go to safety," Mega Man commanded. Rush whimpered one final time and teleported away. 

Mega Man grimaced. The door was strong, but it wouldn't hold against the combined strength of six robots, and especially not when Wily's tank arrived. The emergency doors began shutting down around him, trapping him in the room. 

"Isn't there something I can use?" Rock exclaimed, darting his head around searching for something to reinforce the door or some decoy battle robots he could use. He noticed a large metal circle in the middle of the room attached to a control panel. 

"What's this?" Mega Man looked at the control panel, shrugged, and pressed 'on'. 

The inside of the circle lit up. Sparkling black and gold filled the space before him, bulging and swelling like waves. Mega Man reached out with a finger and touched the force field, it rippled slightly from the sensation and gave way. It wasn't coming out the other side, he noticed. 

An explosion rocked the lab as the door blew out. "Heeeeeeere's Johnny," Shadow Man said. 

"No time for answers," Mega Man said as he glanced back at the force field. Mustering his strength he jumped through. The screen rippled outward and Mega Man disappeared. 

Gemini Man entered the lab, brushing away the smoke. "Hey, where'd he go?"

* * *

Link set the bulky backpack on the bed. He turned back to his closet and began rummaging for things to bring on his quest: a few magic bottles, his boomerang, a lantern, a sack for magic powder, the fire rod and ice rod, and the invaluable hookshot, of course. Going out into a dangerous place like Hyrule's country meant bringing many weapons, but the space in his backpack was limited. He also had to bring food, clothing, and other life necessities. 

knock, knock Link whirled around and saw Zelda behind him. "Packing so soon?" Zelda said. 

"There's no time like now," he replied. 

"You've got all the provisions you need?" 

"Oh, yeah. But I'll probably get more along the way. I always do." 

Pause. 

"Are you going to be coming back to the castle at all?" 

"Probably. I never quite know what to expect on my quests. That's where the fun of it is." 

"I suppose so." 

"You seem kind of nervous about this." 

"Well, adventures always entail some kind of risk." 

"No, I mean you seem so down. You must have come in here for something." 

"No, no reason." 

There was a reason. Zelda cared very much for Link's safety. Whenever he ventured out into Hyrule, she worried, but she would never let Link know that. He would probably chide her for being nervous. 

Link hooked the stout backpack under his arms. "Well, I guess I'm ready." 

"I thought about giving you a grand parade to see you off." 

"Oh, please, no, don't do that." 

"I didn't, I decided against it." 

"Good, I hate huge parties and galas where I'm the center of attention." 

"Well, come on. Finding the Triforce did warrant a huge celebration." 

"I guess that was a good exception." Link attached his bag to his belt. "I'm off." Link cleanly exited the room, leaving Zelda alone. 

Once outside, Link took one more look back at the palace before turning away. His path led him around the castle to the northwest, over gentle hills and dales, through a sparse grove of trees, and upward to the border of the forest. Green pastures and tall fields of grass littered the way. Link cut through the tall grass with his sword to clear the way. These quests had been a lot more interesting when monsters were prevalent throughout the land. During Agahnim's reign, the evil energy let beasts roam the land freely, made more fearsome by magic. Now there were but a scant few hiding in holes. Entering through the archway of trees he looked skyward. The upper canopy blocked the dwindling sunlight, creating an evening feel, except for spots of uncovered sky. Squirrels and woodland creatures skittered about. The mysterious forest was a much more peaceful happy place now. 

Suddenly, Link felt a tap of wood on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and saw a wizzrobe was standing behind him, holding a cane up. 

Link's battle mode instinctively switched on, he unsheathed his sword and was ready to come straight down when the wizzrobe shrank back and said "Don't hurt me, I'm only an old woman." 

It wasn't a wizzrobe, Link realized, just her dressings made her look like one. Link dropped his sword and resheathed it. 

"What are you doing out here in the forest?" 

"I was out gathering water for my family and got sidetracked," she replied in a crinkly, weathered voice. "What fortune finds you here?" 

"I'm on a quest to find a lost treasure." 

The old lady lifted up her hood to get a better look. 

"No, it couldn't be, the Hero of Hyrule, oh, in my presence." 

Link subtly rolled his eyes back. He liked attention, but when people started revering him like he was a god, then the feeling lost its shine quickly. 

"You must come back with me, Sir Link, for shelter." 

"Well, I don't really need-" 

"There are storm clouds on the horizon. Follow me to my home." The old woman grabbed Link's hand and started walking deeper into the forest. Link followed her. They trudged through the hilly land a few minutes, going into a thick area of majestically aged oak trees and deadwood. The hooded lady approached a hollowed stump and pulled an outcropped twig several times. 

"Cursed thing always jams when it rains," she muttered to herself. The front of the stump gave way and revealed a staircase. 

Link followed her down the passageway past a torch-filled wall. 

"It's just down this way, Sir Link," she said as she took off her hood. 

"You can call me just Link." 

"Just Link? The one who saved our land from Agahnim? The one who recovered the Triforce? The one who restored the seal of the wise men and returned peace to Hyrule? Wants to be called just Link? My dear boy, 'sir' is the absolute least title I could hope to bestow upon your noble brow." 

Link didn't say anything. Who would after such a speech? 

"Children, look!" the matron said when she emerged into the cavernous main area. "The Hero of Hyrule!" 

"It's Link! It's Link!" the two children's squeaky voices cried as they sprang up from their seats on the floor and scooted up to their beloved idol. 

"Oh, Sir Link, we've always wanted to meet you." 

"Will you be staying with us? 

"Oh, yes. Please stay the night, please." 

"Children, children," she clapped her hands "Show some manners now. Let the poor soul rest his feet for a minute." She led him over to a chair. "You just rest there for a bit and I'll get you something warm to drink." 

"Thank you," Link replied. The old woman scuttled off to another section of the cave. Link closed his eyes and took a deep cathartic breath. When he opened his eyes he became aware that the two kids were sitting on the floor and staring at him with huge open eyes, never even blinking. 

"So..." Link started, trying to break the unpleasant silence, "Um... do you live down here?" 

"Uh-huh, we found it." 

"We used to live near the pond, but then it got flooded." 

"Yeah, he almost drowned." 

"No, I didn't!" 

"Yeah, you did." 

"No, I didn't." 

"Yeah, you did." 

"Children, children, that's enough now, it's off to bed with you." 

"Awww, we want to stay up with Link some more." 

"Now, now, I'll hear none of this. Off to bed with you." 

The kids got up and skittered into a tunnel shouting "Good night, Link!" 

The woman sighed. "They can be trying at times, but I couldn't love them more." She handed Link a steaming round cup. "This is a root drink that grows down here." 

"How long have you been living here?" 

"Oh, more than half the year now." 

"Why don't you live in the villages?" 

"We have no trade. My husband died during Agahnim's reign and since then our money dwindled down." 

"That's terrible. I'm so sorry." 

"Well, I think we've managed to make a good life considering all. But you, you should get to bed. Here, put this blanket on." the lady handed Link a thick woolen sheet. 

"Thank you," Link replied sweetly. 

"Now, you go to sleep, get a good night's rest, and I'll see you in the morning." She shuffled out of the room, leaving Link alone with the dim glowlight. Link considered the kindness and hospitality of this stranger. How could someone in such an unfortunate situation maintain such a warm motherly attitude. Maybe it was his status as a royal figure that prompted this fresh disposition. He really shouldn't have been so curt, Link disliked it when people treated him like they treated the royal family. He was just a server of them. A highly esteemed server, but nonetheless he was still not royalty. 

Anyway, he had to ready for the continuation of his quest tomorrow. Link drifted off to peaceful slumber. 

_...thunder, lost...  
"Hello?"  
...grass, rain stings...  
..."Hellooooo!"  
...barely see, cloudy, faded...  
...light, bright, golden...  
Triforce  
"Get out."  
_

Link woke with a start. The glowlight had been extinguished so he was welcomed by total blackness. 

He thought back to the dream. He had been lost somewhere deep within the center of a storm and seen the Triforce. Any dream with the Triforce was powerful and most definitely meant something. The voice had told him to get out. That meant there was no time to lose, Link grabbed his pack and set off to find the cave's exit. 

After a deal of groping around for his lantern he used it to find his way back out of the cave and up to the surface. Once there the large, low moon shone through holes in the canopy. 

Link came outside the border of the forest and stopped to take a drink from his canteen. The sky was beginning to lighten from the impending sun. He heard a rustling from behind him in the trees and turned around and saw a blue dog-faced beast emerge from the foliage with spear pointing straight at him. Four of his friends came out with him. 

"Who invited you?" Link smirked as he dropped his pack and pulled out his sword. "Sorry, this is a one-man quest." 

Link jumped forward with sword hilt at his hip. He swiped at the first moblin's spear, knocking it away and then knocking him in the face with the sword's shaft. The moblin bounced back and swiped with his beefy claw, striking Link in the arm. He pulled back, and one of his buddies came up from behind and cracked Link in the back of his head with the hilt of his spear. Resounding pain made Link see white. 

"Hey, guys, can we cut a deal here?" Link grabbed the back of his head. The moblins strafed into a circle surrounding Link, holding their polearms at the ready. Red light gleamed out of their eyes. Link held up his sword, ready for a four-way attack. 

But they stopped and their faces changed to ones of fright. Link looked behind him. 

A giant, swirling vortex was forming in front of him, spiraling and opening up like an iris. It shimmered black and gold and rippled like water. The vortex oscillated violently and with a flash, spit out a body onto the ground. The vortex closed back in on itself as quickly as it had appeared. 

Link looked at what the portal had deposited. It was a small man dressed in blue, wearing a bulky helmet around his head. His right arm ended in a thick cylinder the same color as his clothes. 

The man stood and looked at Link and the monsters behind him. 

"Now I'm in trouble." 

**Next Chapter: The Meeting**


	4. Chapter 4: The Meeting

_Chapter 4: The Meeting_

For a moment, the entire assemblage stood motionless. Moblin, human, and robot, all looked at each other with the same quizzical expressions on their faces. If Link had considered it, he wouldn't believe the moblins to bear enough intelligence to be confused. But he would be correct in that the moblins didn't have enough intelligence to be kept that way for long. 

One growled a loud challenge and raised his spear, charging forward. The battle re-ensued. Link reawakened as well, fending off two attackers with his sword. 

Mega Man saw the strange beast coming at him and ducked out of the way. Since he had no files found in memory regarding the data of such creatures, he couldn't automatically assume they were enemies. They could be humans in a clever disguise, such as a holographic field, for all he knew. This regulation prevented him from taking immediate action against the attackers, since it could result in the violation of Law One. However, judging by the little he knew of the situation, since he saw the lot of them fighting one single human on the other side of the clearing, it would seem that these monsters had malevolent intentions. However, it would not be wise to jump to the conclusion of which side was which yet. It would be optimal if the human in green could provide information as to the happening events. 

With this .0002 nanoseconds of environmental processing finished, Mega Man ducked a spear stab from a monster. He could take no offensive action, but he could take defensive action according to Law Three. Ducking blows, he maneuvered backwards to cross paths with the human warrior. 

Link bravely defended himself as well. The swish of swords and clang of metal against metal repeated rapidly. Regarding the man in blue, Link thought perhaps he could gain an ally in this struggle, since the moblins had attacked him too. He was defending himself now. Wherever the strange man came from, he could sure use another hand. Moving smoothly, drawing his opponent forward, he stepped back to the center where the blue man was backing up from oncoming monsters. 

"Excuse me, what transpires here?" the man in blue asked. 

"It doesn't matter, I could use your help." 

"What sort of people are these?" 

"They're not people, they're monsters." 

"Then they're not human?" 

"Right." 

"All right." That was all Mega Man needed to hear. If they weren't human, the first law of robotics didn't apply. Unsheathing his Mega Buster from within his arm, he immediately unleashed a plasma shot at one of the monsters. The energy ripped through its flesh, leaving a gaping hole where the shot went through. Dumbfounded, the moblin looked down to see his lack of torso, looked up with a rather pathetic face, and vanished in a puff of smoke. Mega Man shot two more monsters, killing them with one blow of the buster. The two other monsters saw this and immediately fled in the opposite direction, disappearing back into the woods. 

Link looked on in awe. This had to be the man of metal with the arm of light, undoubtedly. This was the one prophesized to him to help him recover the three pendants. He looked like no one he had ever seen before. A little shorter than himself, he had a helmet of dark blue, and wore a skintight light and dark blue jumpsuit. Rather odd attire for a warrior of this caliber. And the weapon seemed to melt into his arm. If he didn't know this was an ally, he'd be inclined to run the way of the moblins. 

Mega Man turned to see who was his fighting compatriot. He looked enough like a human, but he had some rather elf-like characteristics. His ears were pointed, and he had long golden hair raining from his hat, which looked like a stocking cap. He wore a green dress, sandals, and was carrying a knapsack. 

"Thank you," Mega Man said. 

Link approached Mega Man, sword still out at the ready should he be wrong. He slowly put out a hand. Mega Man looked at it curiously; it wasn't in the proper position for a handshake. Link touched Mega Man on the chest. He felt cold and hard, like the metal that made his blade. This was a suit of armor, yet so thin. How could it be effective? He reached up and touched his face with a pointed finger. It felt soft, like skin, but not exactly, colder. He pushed in, and met something smooth, not irregular like bone. Something melded to the exact shape of his round face. 

Mega Man still looked at the elf-boy curiously; he appeared to be ascertaining what he felt like. 

"Are you... a man of metal?" 

"I am made of metal. Various alloys and plastics as well." 

"Do you have a name?" Link asked. 

"My name is... Mega Man," Mega Man wasn't sure whether to introduce himself as 'Mega Man' or 'Rock', but for right now, 'Mega Man' was fine until he knew this person better. 

"My name is Link." 

"What is this place?" 

"The Lost Woods... in Hyrule." 

Hyrule. No files found. Not only that but he had lost all his telecommunications links, period. That either meant he was in an undiscovered part of Earth, unlikely, or some other planet altogether. 

"Is there a name for this planet?" 

"What's a planet?" 

"A celestial body moving in an orbit around a sun," he said, quoting from his lexicon. 

"All right," Link replied warily, completely in the dark about what he just said. "We don't have any of those here. We call this land Hyrule. Just where did you come from?" 

"Not here, definitely. I come from Earth in a city. It-" 

"What's a city?" 

"An inhabited place of greater size, population, and status than a town or village." 

"I've never heard of that before." 

Mega Man did another scan of Link's attire. It seemed almost medieval judging by his weaponry and clothing. This must have been a lesser developed culture. But when and where? 

"What is the deal with your arm?" Link asked. 

"The deal?" 

"What..." Link wasn't quite sure what to ask. "What is it made out of?" 

"It's a plasma energy cannon capable of energy charge with an integrated weapon copy system." 

Once again, in the dark. "Okaaaaaay," Link smiled and nodded. Nonetheless, he was still convinced that this was the man of metal. 

"I need to recover my telecomm links. I have to get back to where I came from before the robots take total control of it." 

"What's a robot?" 

"A robot is composed of a mechanical and electrical device that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts of a human being, being computationally programmed through use of circuits and wiring to..." Mega Man stopped as he realized he was sounding too much like a dictionary and Link wasn't comprehending anything. "Robots are other men made of metal. Mechanical men, so to speak." 

"Okay." Once again... 

"Wait, do you mean to tell me that there are no telecomm links, no robots, no cities, no nothing?" 

"Wherever you came from, it's not here." Link felt a strong wind and looked up. Dark gray clouds were moving in from the east. It appeared that the storm of his dream was literal. They were on the edge of the forest and could reach shelter in time if they hurried. 

Mega Man contemplated what to do. What was the vortex that was created? Perhaps if he could analyze the traces of the portal, he could find more data and get a better idea of what he was dealing with. Of course he had no tools to do so, so his results would be limited. 

"Come on, let's go." 

"No, I should stay here and analyze this area to see if there are traces of the portal left." 

"We have to get moving. There's a storm coming in. If we start now, we can get to shelter before it comes." 

"No, even after my analysis is complete, we must proceed to your leader's home base and inform your sovereign of my situation. Perhaps that person will be able to provide a solution." 

"We're not going back to Hyrule Castle," Link replied incredulously. "It's much too far to walk now. I didn't travel all this way just to find you." 

"'Hyrule Castle' is the most likely place to have the answers to my questions." 

"We can't go backward. We gotta press forward if we want to make it to shelter." 

"I have to get in contact with those who have the best chance of assisting me." 

"No." 

"Yes." 

"No." 

"Yes." 

"No." 

"Yes." 

"All right, all right, let's compromise, let's go to an inn. The village is near here anyway." 

"That's fine. But first I need to complete my analysis." 

"We don't have time for your stupid analysis. Didn't you just hear me say there's a storm coming? Won't you rust or whatever?" 

"My armor is an airtight-" 

"No, no, just forget it. Just hurry up and do your analysis." Link dejectedly walked up to a tree and sat against it. He took out the canteen from his backpack while he waited. 

Mega Man scanned the area once all the way around. "Finished." 

"What?" 

"I'm finished with my analysis." 

"Already?" Link hadn't even opened his canteen. 

"Yes, we may go." 

"Well... all right then." Link picked up his backpack and headed out.   


* * *

Why did every inn seem to look the same around Hyrule, Link thought. Wine barrels against the wall. Table in the corner. Bar against the wall. A single picture with a portrait of a smiling somebody. And every bar had the same picture of that grinning idiot. Was he the patron saint of alcohol? 

Link stepped up to the bar, intending to talk with the barkeeper for anything he might have heard about current events. 

Mega Man scanned the scene. In this environment he would stick out like a sore thumb. "What should I do?" 

"Ummm... just... try to blend." 

"Try to blend?" 

"Make some friends, I don't know," he shrugged. "Go over there, meet some people. Maybe they can help you." 

Mega Man furrowed his eyebrows and approached a table of male patrons. 

Link ignored him for the time and looked at the barkeeper. 

"He a friend of yours?" 

"Just something I picked up in the woods," Link replied as he took a seat on the stool. 

The bartender set out a red drink before him. Free of charge to the Hero of Hyrule. "If you're asking about where the moblins might be comin' from I couldn't tell ya," the drinkslinger said, "Since the news hit the town, most people just hear the word 'moblin' and scatter." 

"Not worried about the moblins right now. What've you heard from the thieves' corner?" 

"Thieves' guild? I try to stay out of their business." 

"I try to stay out of their business too, but it never seems to work. What do you know? Anything about a palace heist?" 

"Might know someone who'd be able to help you better than anybody else in town. Goes by the name of Grizzled Jack, used to be part of the thieves' guild. Ornery fellow, lives out in the wilderness, likes to keep selves to selves, if you know what I mean." 

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." Link stole a glance at Mega Man, who was now sitting at a table engaged in conversation.   


* * *

Roll shoved Dr. Light down into the underground shelter, and quickly shut the vault door behind her, sealing the dual-locking system. 

"We can only hope Rock and Rush can stop them before it's too late." 

"Yeah, that sounds rather familiar," Roll smirked. 

Dr. Light smirked back. "Yes, I suppose it does. After all the confidence I've put into Mega Man, he's been in tougher situations than this and survived. I'm sure he'll win the day. But why are we being attacked outright? Wily's never taken direct action against me before, he's always tried to control the world. Why is he just attacking me?" 

As if to emphasize his statement, thunderous crashing echoed in the chamber, coming from above. Coming from Wily and his robots destroying his home. Tremendous crashing rang at random intervals, making Light shirk back in fear. 

"Oh my precious experiments. I-" 

A great crashing, the loudest of all, rang out right next to the door. Roll opened the ultaPyrex eyehole and looked out. All she could see were the granules of a rock blocking her view. 

"It looks like we're trapped. There's been a cave-in and it's blocking the door." 

The overhead light flickered and died. The hum of generators slowed down to a crawl and silenced. 

"The power's gone out," Roll stated. 

"Oh, dear, that's bad, that's bad." 

"What?" 

"This shelter was built airtight. Without power there's no oxygen generators. I'm going to suffocate!" 

**Next Chapter: Bar Fight Tonight**


	5. Chapter 5: Bar Fight Tonight

_Chapter 5: Bar Fight Tonight_

*TWANG* 

*THOK* 

The arrow wiggled up and down, embedded in the haystack where it was fired. It was a little off center of the target in the yellow concentric circle. That would be the third 'almost-bull's-eye' she'd gotten today. _I must be slipping, _she thought. She reached down below for the quiver and pulled out another arrow. Nocking it on the bow, she concentrated and released the string. The arrow flew into the border of the red and yellow circles. _Better, _she thought. She grasped the bowstring and tugged it. _May have to get this tightened though. _

Zelda stepped over the door of the stall to retrieve her arrows. Her makeshift archery range was in the castle basement in an abandoned stable, a new one having been built years ago. Dirty and grungy, unkempt for years, hardly a place for a princess to be. But it was just about the only place to find some peace and quiet. 

Since Link had defeated Ganon and recovered the Triforce, peace had returned to Hyrule. Nevertheless, Zelda had felt extremely vulnerable during the whole ordeal, having been kidnapped by Agahnim and imprisoned in a crystal within Turtle Rock, she realized just how important she was and how necessary the ability to defend herself would be. It certainly wouldn't do to rely on Link as the sole protector when he was only an 'independent knight' of the kingdom. Although it certainly would be nice if Link would stay at the castle, after all he did for the world it was the least he could do. But Link had politely declined when offered, preferring his house just south of the castle grounds as a residence. 

Never mind that though. Zelda shook her head to stop her aimless mind wandering. There was still plenty of practice left. She plucked out each arrow embedded in the hay block, and cradled them in her hand. Stepping over the door of the stall again, much easier to do with her riding pants rather than that incessant skirt she was always supposed to wear, she reset her position for firing. She picked up another arrow and held it at the ready on her bow. 

"Keep doing that and you'll get calluses." 

Zelda lowered her weapon and looked to her left. Horace, the captain of the guards was standing a little ways down the hall, walking towards her. He was dressed in his basic light chain armor and orange tunic, sans helmet. 

"So?" Zelda held her nose in the air and returned to the aim of her bow. 

He continued, "It's very unbecoming of a princess to have rough hands." 

"I've never been very becoming of a princess. You have my six sisters for that," she said as she steadied her aim and fired. "You came down here for something, I gather?" 

"Aye, I've come to give you the report of our findings regarding the theft of the pendants." 

Zelda again dropped her bow, and faced Horace. Horace hesitated to speak. 

Zelda said, "And?" 

"And... I just gave it." 

"What? But you said nothing." 

"Exactly. There is nothing to report. We haven't found anything." 

Zelda grunted in frustration and walked over to a wooden pillar. She hung her head and leaned on it, looking back at her captain. "Well, what are we supposed to do now, I'd like to know. Our only hope is Link out in the field, and he's got as little to go on as we do. Has the king been consulted on this?" 

"He has, but has left the decision making up to you. You know the situation better than the rest of us. We could send out the soldiers to scour the land, but..." 

"But that would be a highly ineffective waste of resources." Zelda looked down at the stone floor and pondered, scraping some hay off her shoe that she had noticed. "It's so strange. What would someone want the pendants for anyway. The purpose of the pendants is to awaken the Master Sword, but only the Hero can wield the Master Sword. So, what other purpose do the pendants have?" 

Horace put a thinking finger to his lips. "Interesting question. I'll have the archivists find the answer to that as soon as possible." 

"Good. If we can find that out, we could cut them off at the pass, so to speak." 

"There is one other thing I have noticed, off the record. The vizier has been acting strangely as of late." 

"The vizier? Noktwor? What in the world would make you think that?" 

"Absolutely nothing," was all Horace could respond with. Zelda put a hand on her hip and looked at him like 'you're going to have to do better than that'. 

"All I can tell you is his behavior is quite odd. Sneaking around in early hours of the morning. Stammering excuses of where he's been. It's all disconcerted me." 

"But nothing you could arrest him for," Zelda said confidently. She was heavily displeased with this lack of professionalism in her guards. 

"Unfortunately, other than that, we have no leads, no suspects, no motive, and no clue." 

"Fantastic," Zelda sighed. "Very well, if that's all we have to go on. Continue on the best you can. There's always a clue somewhere." 

"Understood, princess, I'll tell my men to continue their investigation." The captain bowed graciously and left the stables. Zelda watched him depart, then picked up the bow and an arrow. She knew deep down that these jobs would be delegated down and down until the lowest bidder would be working on it, and she was tired of duties and tasks being shuffled off on someone else's shoulders. It was the very bane of bureaucracy. There was only one thing she could do, she resolved. That would be to return to the scene of the crime and start making her own personal investigation. It was the only way anything would ever be done around here. There had to be something that they missed. 

She aimed the bow along her eye line, muttering to herself, "There's always a clue..." 

She let go. The arrow hit the bull's-eye squarely. 

"Always."   


* * *

Link sipped slowly on his deku tea, leaning over the bar and staring blankly ahead at the shelves behind the bar, reading the names on the labels of the bottles: Zora filtered water, poppleberry wine, spiced apple cider, octorok juice, Goron beer, Lon-Lon Milk, aged fairy spirit wines, carbonated caramel water... 

"Hey there, the bottles are for drinking, not reading," the bartender glibly said. Link just glared up at him. 

He continued, "So who's your friend over there?" 

"He's not my friend, he's just someone I picked up on the way." 

"Sure has got some funny clothes. I guess bright blue is the new fashion." 

"I wouldn't know." Link reset his posture to sit up straight and took another sip of tea. 

"Is he your new partner?" 

"I don't have partners. I work alone. I never needed anyone to help me before, and I don't need it now." 

The bartender hummed in affirmation as he wiped out a beer mug. 

Link had been essentially isolated during his quest for the Triforce. From the very start of his adventure he was a wanted man by the royal guard, and in the Dark World, well, the pursuit of him there was self-explanatory. He had learned to fend for himself, because no one else was going to do it for him. 

"Looks like he's having a good time, though," the bartender said. 

Link twisted around on his stool to see the bright blue soldier sitting at a table playing cards, contrasting heavily with the other roughnecks around him in drab green and brown. Link smiled to himself. 

The bartender leaned in closer to Link, "You realize that's the Card Club mafia, right?" 

"I do. He can defend himself. If he doesn't, he'll learn." He finished off the rest of his tea. 

Suddenly, one of the card players jumped up from the table, kicking back his chair. "That's it, that's the last time you win, punk." 

Link's eyes bulged out from the above his mug. "Uh-oh." 

Mega Man's attacker pulled a knife from his belt and lunged at him. Mega Man leaned slightly to the side and let the blade deflect off his armor. His attacker fell forward behind him. 

"That's some armor you've got there, punk," another said. 

"I didn't want any trouble," Mega Man responded. "I just wanted to gather sociological information from you by playing this game. You see, the problem is there's an inherent strategy flaw in the game's rules-" 

"I don't wanna hear nothin' 'bout no rules. Youse is cheatin'!" the third card player exclaimed. 

"Hold 'im, Gus." 

Another sizeable opponent snuck around Mega Man's back and pinned his arms over his head in a full-nelson, leaving him open for attack. "Go for it, Ungar," Gus said in a snide, ratty voice to the big man. 

Ungar pounded his fists together, ready to give Mega Man a beating. "Heh, time to show you a little boy shouldn't play a man's game." Ungar took off Mega Man's helmet, unveiling his ratty brown hair. "Take this stupid hat off." He wound up and punched him with a right cross across the face. Mega Man's head slightly bobbed to the side as the punch connected. 

Ungar clutched his hand in pain. "OW! You got yourself a hard head there, kid," he said as he shook his hand out. He picked up his switchblade again. "Let's see how it looks all cut up." He pulled his arm back- 

-And felt someone clutching his arm from behind. He looked and found Link grabbing tightly onto him. 

"Say there, wanna take it a little easy on the kid?" Link asked innocently. "It's his first time in Hyrule after all." 

"He knew what he was doing," Ungar responded gruffly, yanking his hand back and facing Link. "Guess they don't make 'em too bright where his kind comes from." 

"Well, all the same, I suggest you stop and leave him alone." 

"Or what, little man?" 

"Or I'll have to get- aaRGH!" 

The third card player smashed a wooden chair on Link's back, shattering it to pieces. Link careened forward and landed on his hands and knees. 

"Hey, you can't do that!" one of the miscellaneous patrons said, and threw his bottle at Ungar. It missed and smashed against the wall above a booth. A riot began breaking out around them, bottles thrown, fists flying, chairs tumbling along the ground. 

Ungar kicked Link in the stomach as he lay on the ground. The Hero of Hyrule dropped to the floor and breathed deeply. The big man laughed heartily, when suddenly Link spun around and kicked his legs out from under him. Ungar fell backwards, landing on his backside. Link propped himself up on his hands and kicked out, smashing him in the face and standing up at the same time. He saw Mega Man was standing placidly in the middle of the brawl like an idiot. 

"Idiot! Get over here!" Link called to him as he flipped over the table to use as a barricade. Mega Man picked up his helmet, put it on, and quickly came to Link's side crouched behind the tabletop. 

"Well, you'll never be able to show your face in here again," Link said in a deadpan voice. 

"What happened? Why did they try to attack me?" 

"Don't you know any better than to play with the Card Club? They're hustlers, they'll take your money." 

"I was able to play the game without losing any money. You see, there's an inherent flaw in the strategy of the game-." 

"Never mind, let's get out of here." Link grabbed the table legs and started dragging his makeshift shield back towards the door. 

"Not so fast, punks." Link and Mega Man turned and saw the three Card Club members standing in front of them, the middle one tapping a broken-off table leg against his hand. He swung it down over Link's head. Mega Man's hand shot out lightning-fast and grabbed it in mid-flight. 

"You're dead meat," Ungar made several quick knife thrusts at Mega Man's torso, shrieking against metal each time. 

"Punch him or something!" Link exclaimed, looking back at him while holding off the two others with his sword. Ungar pulled back his broken knife and looked at it sadly. 

Link pushed off the other two with a grunt. "Errgh, enough of this." Link held his sword readied behind him. A trail of sparkling energy traveled up the length of the blade and sparked at its tip. "Take this." 

Releasing the magical energy, he spun around in a blazing whirlwind. The card players were blown back as Mega Man ducked under the path of the sword. 

"Time to go." 

Link and Mega Man made off out of the bar's door. Muffled sounds of fighting and crashing still continued behind them. 

"What is your problem!" Link yelled at Mega Man as they headed north. "Are you some sort of peace nut or something? You didn't even tap him! Did you want to get hit?" 

"I can't hurt humans." 

"Well, you better learn how if you're gonna be here a while." 

"No, you don't understand. I mean, I really can't. I'm incapable of causing harm to humans, it's in my programming." 

"Your programming? What's that?" 

"It's a set of laws in my land that ... my kind have to abide by." He left off the word "robot" as that would have likely started more confusion. 

"Well, you're not in your land anymore." 

"I still can't break them. They're ingrained in my behavior." 

Link looked forward, off into the trail. "But you had no problem fighting those moblins." 

"They weren't human, you said." 

"They're not." 

"So my rules don't apply to them." 

"Hmph," Link grunted and kicked a small rock along the road. "I don't get it. If you can't harm humans, then what about all those people in the bar who got hurt in the riot. Didn't you cause them harm? What about if you let them harm others?" 

"There used to be another part to the law that said we cannot let humans come to harm through inaction, but that was repealed when they found it was too impractical. We kept preventing humans from doing their work, even if it was slightly dangerous." 

"So... does that make you... non-human." 

"I told you, I'm a robot." 

"Right, right, a human machine, something about complex tasks. Anyway..." 

"Anyway are we going back to the castle now?" 

"Look, I want to get you back to your own land as much as you do, but right now, I'm sort of on a quest here, and I can't really stop to take you back anywhere. Besides, you've seen the sort of things here, we don't have any of what... you can do. Do you really think there's anything here that can help you?" 

"...Perhaps not." Mega Man cast his eyes down at the floor. 

"All right, so your best bet is to stick with me, unfortunately. But whatever you do, try not to get in the way. Fine?" 

"Fine." 

"All right, let's get going."   


* * *

Dr. Light sat against the corner of the tiny vault, doing his best not to move at all. Moving meant using up energy, which meant using up breath. Precious oxygen was starting to fade, and he had been in the tomb for hours. Roll had spent that time going over every inch of the vault, looking for weak spots in the wall, testing the strength of the door, trying to find any way out. Unfortunately, Roll, while still much stronger than an average human, was not built for brawn. Tearing down the door was not an option. 

"How are you doing, Dr. Light?" 

"Fine, dear," Dr. Light rasped. 

The sound of Dr. Light's voice told Roll that he was obviously not fine. It wouldn't be too long until he would pass out from lack of air and eventually die. "The weakest spot I've found is on this wall," Roll pointed to a blank, cemented white wall. "I'm going to try to break through it." Roll wound up and started punching the wall at the spot where she pointed. Thunderous vibrations echoed in the small chamber as she repeatedly pounded. 

"Roll... no... careful..." Light tried to protest. 

"What?" Roll paused her destruction and turned to Light, her knuckles crusted in white dust. 

"I... never mind." Light remembered that robots don't feel pain and doused his natural instinct to protect his children. Roll returned to punching. A spider-web of cracks began to appear in the wall. 

"Don't worry, Dr. Light. I'll have you out of here in a jiffy." She glanced back at the old man. "Dr. Light?" 

**Next Chapter: Grizzled to Perfection**


	6. Chapter 6: Grizzled to Perfection

_Chapter 6: Grizzled to Perfection_

Zelda stopped before she turned the corner and smoothed out a ruffle in her light blue dress. _Obnoxious skirt, _she thought. Two guards standing in front of the closed vault door waited for her to approach them. They held spears upright and wore helmets that seemed too big for their heads.

"Princess," one of them greeted and bowed his head.

"Good morrow, gentleman. Please open the vault."

"I'm sorry?"

"Open the vault door, please. I assume you know the combination."

"Er, yes, Princess, but why would you want to go in there?"

Zelda's anger level began to rise inversely to her patience. "I want to inspect the scene of the crime for any clues that may have been missed."

The guards looked at each other. "Isn't that a job more for the royal investigator?"

The other chimed in, "Yeah, and hasn't that already been done?"

Zelda held her breath for three seconds. "All right, listen, buddy, I'm the princess of Hyrule, I'm in charge. So you'd better open this door or you will be licking Kakariko Village's main street with your tongues. Understand?"

The guards quickly opened the vault.

Zelda stepped in. The place was exactly as it was left. To the normal eye, it was just a vault for holding the three pendants. Nonetheless, that vault should have been secure with all the physical and magical barriers surrounding it. No one could have teleported into the room. No one could have opened up the vault door. No one had even opened the vault door since the Master Sword was laid to rest and the pendants were no longer needed.

Zelda ran her hands over the mahogany table. There were three impressions made specifically for the pendants. One made of sapphire for courage, one made of emerald for wisdom, one made of ruby for power. They mirrored the three parts of the Triforce, testing the mettle of the Hero who would awaken the sword. She thought maybe it would have been better if they were kept in a lock box or a treasure chest for safekeeping, instead of on display like this. As if anyone would be able to come and see the artifacts like in a museum.

Zelda rubbed her hand along the impression for the pendant of wisdom. Nothing felt suspicious, no hollowed out wood, no invisibility spell traces. She sat down on her back, shifting her dress to a semi-comfortable state, and gripped onto the edge of the table, using it to slide under. Nothing going on there either. The wood was as solid as a rock, so to speak. No holes, no sliding cubbies. She switched onto her hands and knees and inspected the floor. The tiling covering the rock hard cement enclosure was immaculate. No one had ever been in this room at all for a long time. She thought about going over every line of grout, testing every tile, but that seemed fruitless.

No, wait, that's what she would have to do if she was going to make an even more thorough inspection than the previous investigators. And then if she was going to keep her mission statement enforced, she would have to inspect all the walls and the ceiling, make several magic scans, and so on. She growled to herself. She didn't want to do something so tedious, that's precisely why she hated being a princess so much. If the frickin' idiots working for her were doing their job, this wouldn't be necessary. She slammed her hand into the floor in frustration.

A corner of tile popped up next to where she had hit the floor.

Zelda eyed it curiously. Just a triangular edge of the ceramic tile was poking out of the ground. If her eyes hadn't been in straight view she wouldn't have even noticed it. Using her fingernails she delicately caught hold of the corner and scraped it up out of place. She lifted it out of the slot, revealing a hole in the floor leading to some crawlspace. At last, this had to be the way the pendants were snuck out.

"Guards, call the captain! Tell him I've found something," she called to the two outside.

"Yes, princess." She heard them skitter off as she inspected the hole, trying to find anything else, even the tiniest clue. She narrowed her eyes down, trying to increase their magnification. She noticed the corner closest to her had a short purple thread barely hanging off it. Delicately, so as not to let it fall into the hole and disappear, she scooped it into her hand for closer inspection. _The vizier has a purple robe,_ she mused. _I wonder._

* * *

*knock, knock, knock*

Link chose to knock on the door, rather than heed the signs nailed to it that read 'BEWARE!', 'GO AWAY! This means you!', and 'Trespassers will be harmed... a lot!'. Waiting for an answer, Link looked back behind him, where he could see the backs of signs posted out in the yard that displayed essentially the same thing. There was a well near the house and a stump for cutting logs with an axe embedded in it. The red wood above Grizzled Jack's door was practically rotted away. Ants and wasps crawled in and out of the termite-bitten holes. The bartender sure wasn't kidding when he said he liked to keep selves to selves.

Dusk was quickly approaching, and it was hardly sound thinking to be outside in the dark in Hyrule. They would need shelter quickly.

"This place doesn't look too structurally sound," Mega Man commented from behind Link.

"Yeah," Link begrudgingly agreed. This area was near where the lumberjack brothers used to live, constantly trying to cut down that tree. But this shack was much farther north. Almost into the mountains.

Link knocked again. The wood even felt soft. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone in there?"

While Link stood near the door, Mega Man circled the perimeter of the house, looking for anything else of interest. How anyone could be allowed to live like this was abominable. This was practically living homelessly. In his world, the government had long ago set up affordable housing tracts that were well maintained, with the cheap labor that robots brought in. Homelessness was virtually eliminated.

Rustling from the dark forest that bordered the square of land alerted him. He relaxed when he saw it was nothing more than two birds flying out. When he reached the back of the house he found an animal skin stretched out for tanning on a board leaning against the wall. Mega Man looked at it curiously, deducing it was some sort of a bear creature with leopard-patterned fur and a spinal back. More evidence that this world had no relation to his own. It was a lot like being thrust into the past, but not his past. He came back around to the house's front. "Nothing much back there."

"Hmm..." Link decided to skip formalities and just go in. He'd been waiting long enough and he needed the info as soon as possible. If Jack was home and sleeping or out, Link would just have to wait inside until he came back. He lifted up the handle of the door, which promptly tore off the weak wood. Link stared at it in his hand. "Oops."

He tossed the handle on the ground and pushed open the door. It creaked open slowly, eerily, as Link and Mega Man stood side-by-side, looking in with wide eyes. Dim, orange light gradually streamed into the dank and decaying room.

"Nice touch," Link commented.

He cautiously poked his boot across the threshold. The floorboards creaked with neglect, wide slits permeated the surface. A large pile of paper next to an inkstand sat on a table standing on three and a half legs. A fur rug was crumpled in a corner that had to be Jack's bed and a pile of bones on the other side of the house made the grisly scene complete. Mega Man stepped in as well.

"Please tell me you don't all live like this."

"Hardly. This guy must have some serious issues with civilization." Link squinted his eyes. "You can barely see in here." He fetched out his lantern from his pocket and sprinkled a dash of magic powder in to light it. A moth flew out from the unused lamp.

"What's that?" Mega Man spun around and leveled his arm cannon at it. He stopped short once he realized it was harmless.

"Aaah," Link stumbled back. "Don't point that thing at me!" Link's lack of balance forced him backwards as he stepped onto a metal clutch. The trigger fired and closed the bear trap set on the floor around Link's boot.

Link's eyes burst open with surprise and pain, "YEOWTCH!" He tripped and fell onto the floor. Quickly, he grabbed his foot in pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Mega Man came over to his side. He was programmed to provide medical aid to humans and that program had just fired up. "How deep is it?"

"Argh, you idiot! I knew you'd do nothing but get in my way. Now I've got this stupid bear trap digging into my leg." Link could feel it penetrating the leather of his boot and blood seeping out of the punctures.

Mega Man took hold of the steel trap in his hands and pried it apart swiftly. Link looked somewhat taken aback at this feat of strength, but it hardly changed his attitude as he glowered up at the blue-clad soldier.

"Let's take that boot off and treat the wound," Mega Man said.

"I'm fine with my boot. The wound didn't go that deep."

"You sure screamed a lot for it not being that deep."

"It's thick leather. It just took me by surprise."

"Just take off your boot, or it'll get infected."

"I like infections. It builds character. I get them all the time."

"Not as long as I'm here-"

"Why don't you just get out of here then. I'm sure you'd have as much luck finding a way back home on your own."

"I don't have anywhere to go! You're the only person I know here who hasn't acted hostile to me."

"Then find someone else, cause I feel pretty hostile right now. I do my questing alone, and I don't need some foreigner stepping on my toes. If it wasn't for that stupid prophecy, I would have left you in the Lost Woods!"

"What prophecy?"

"That spacy Seer said there was some prophecy that I would meet a man of metal with an arm of light and we'd solve the mystery of the pendants."

"That's ridiculous. If the only reason you're helping me is because of some foolish prophecy then I can find help else-"

"Shh, wait... do you hear something."

Mega Man attuned his listening sensors. There was some metallic clinking sound above him. They both looked up. An assortment of knives, blades, axes, all chained up to the ceiling were hanging above them, dangling with the breeze. Most of them were rusty and way beyond safe use.

"Oh, that... that's not good," Link said.

"I don't think civilization's the only thing he has issues with."

A meat cleaver broke off from the chain and plummeted down to the floor, landing right next to Link's leg, wedged into the floorboard by the point of the blade. He could feel the coolness of the knife next to his skin.

"Eep," Link said timidly.

Mega Man whispered, "Try not... to make... a sound."

"Okay." Link's eyes were glued heavenward at the precarious sharp objects. "Get up slowly... and walk towards the door."

Mega Man leaned back and pushed himself up by his knees. Link suppressed a grunt and gritted his teeth as he put weight on his injured ankle. A wind rushed through the trees outside. Link held his breath as he waited for the breeze to come into the house, looking up like a puppy about to be disciplined. The knives dangled back and forth in wider arcs like sadistic wind chimes. Both of them shuffled their feet quietly towards the door.

"What thur blazes are you doin' in ma house!"

Link and Mega Man's head darted to the doorway and saw a great big brutish person holding a wood-chopping axe, blocking the only way out.

**Next Chapter: Chiseled and Grizzled**


	7. Chapter 7: Chiseled and Grizzled

_Chapter 7: Chiseled and Grizzled_

BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM*BAM* 

Roll pounded away at the wall as fast as she could, her arms going like an old car engine piston. Her energy source was pumping out well beyond her tolerance levels. The entire wall of the vault had become a ruin of cracked cement like it had been half-eaten away. 

Roll looked back at Dr. Light as her fists kept pounding. He had slumped over to his side, cuddled against the wall. His complexion had a slight blue tinge emerging. 

Roll stopped her fists short of the wall. "Oh, no, Dr. Light, please..." She dashed over to his fallen form and gently pushed him back upright. His eyes were closed, and his skin was clammy. Roll's eyes widened with fear. "Come on, come back to me." She gently shook him, trying to wake him up. Her panic mode set in. She had to find a way to circulate some air in the room fast. If not, there was the risk of asphyxiation or brain damage, and possibly death. Quickly, she jumped up to the tiny vent at the top of the cubic room, trying to see if there was anything down there. There was nothing. She couldn't take out the light implanted in the ceiling, or rip through the door or dig a hole or anything. Punching through the wall still had hours to go before she could make progress. Roll held her hands to her head in frustration. "Oh god!" she exclaimed, her voice wavering like an upset teenage girl. It was utterly hopeless. 

She raced back to Dr. Light's side, looking up at him from her knees. "Oh, god, I'm sorry, Dr. Light, I can't get you out of here. I can't think of any way to get you out of here. You're going to die and it's all my fault. I led you down here, and we got locked in, and I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." Roll closed her eyes and put her arms around Light's body, pulling him close to her. "I don't know if you can hear me now, but..." 

Roll's arm touched the outside of one of Light's pockets in his lab coat. The object inside suddenly made a faint humming sound, undetectable to any human ear. It felt like a large pen with a handle. The girl robot dug into the lab coat pocket and pulled it out. The object was black and had a colored level indicator slowly charging up. 

Delightedly, she held it up into the light. A plasma cutter! It was a device used for cutting hard metals with precision. At its fullest charge, surely it would be able to cut through a concrete wall. Roll immediately hit the button for full charge and pointed it at the wall. Once it hit the mark, a beam of white light shot out of the end and hit the wall. Carefully she traced a circle around the point where she had already made a spider-web of cracks, calculating exactly where the weakest points were so as to make a hole big enough for a human to fit through. As soon as she completed the cut-out she shut off the tool, rushed forward, and shoulder-slammed the slice of wall in as hard as she could. She could feel the grinding of the stone as she pushed forward even more, quickly switching to her hands, trying to use the initial inertia to carry the slab out. Chunks of white stone crumbled off the outline. She dug her feet into the ground, giving her better traction, reinforcing her determination. Finally, the rock fell back and collapsed. She could feel a rush of air enter the room as the piece of wall dropped out. She ran back over to Dr. Light. Roll put her ear to his chest, he was still breathing, but shallowly. "Dr. Light? Dr. Light? Can you hear me?" 

Dr. Light's eyes fluttered open. He groaned weakly. 

Roll continued. "I've broken through the wall. I'm going to get you out of here. Keep breathing." 

She helped Dr. Light up to his feet. He was pretty conscious now, but his muscles were jelly, yielding to Roll's actions. She put his arm around her shoulder and led him to the wall. 

"I'll go through first and then pull you in," she said. Dr. Light barely nodded in response. 

Still holding onto him, she stepped through the portal and gently tugged Dr. Light along with her. Roll was right about her house plans. This area of the mansion had been hollowed out to allow for airflow. They were in a tight crawlspace facing a metal ventilation shaft that blocked their path. It was essentially a slight extension to the vault, with nowhere else to go. 

"I think we can open up this panel of the vent shaft and get through it," Roll pointed out as she touched the metal. 

"Oh my god, Roll, your hands." 

Roll looked down at her hands. The dermal layer had been completely worn down from the ends of her fingers to halfway down her palm. Her metal endoskeleton could be seen, shiny bionic fingers partially covered in shreds of rubbery skin. 

"Oops, guess I punched a little hard." 

"Are you okay?" 

"I'm in no pain. We can get it repaired after this fiasco." 

"That dermal layer is a protection against wear and tear on your parts, exposure to air for very long is rather dangerous. Your system has to be as dust free as possible." 

"We can't worry about that now." Roll approached the side panel of the ventilation shaft and tore off a side section like a roll of paper. Light cringed at the shrieking sound of metal. 

Roll peeked into the shaft. "According to my plans, the closest path to the outside is this way." She started crawling into shaft, then shifted around on her knees to help Dr. Light in. 

"Oh my goodness. I've never gone through the house like this before. I can't believe the ventilation shafts are this big." 

"I think they need to be for a house of this size." 

The two began crawling through the metal tunnel on hands and knees. Roll kept on the heel of her hands to avoid dust getting into her system. Dr. Light, having regained much of his strength, crawled close behind her. He sneezed once in a while from the grime. 

"Roll, listen, can you hear anything?" he said. 

"I can hear us crawling through the ventilation shaft." 

"No, I mean above us, in the mansion? I can't hear anyone in the house at all." 

Roll perked up her ears like a cat. "I hear nothing either." 

"Perhaps they've left?" Light remarked hopefully. 

"We still need to get out of here as soon as possible and alert the authorities, if they haven't already been notified from the massive explosion." 

Roll and Dr. Light traveled along the ventilation shaft uneventfully for some time, listening for signs of activity above them. Neither of them thought the robot masters would be searching through the ventilation systems for them. In fact, neither of them had any idea what Wily was planning. He had never attacked Dr. Light directly, he had always sought world domination. For some reason, Wily had little grudge against Dr. Light despite his creation of Mega Man. 

Dr. Light passed over a grate below him. "Roll, wait, here." He wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't been looking down as he crawled. 

"What?" 

"Down here, can we go into this room?" 

Roll circled around clumsily, hard to do in a tiny tunnel, and looked down the vent where Light was looking. There was a grimy, industrial room below with green brick walls and a gray factory floor. All she could see was a table and a cabinet from her vantage point. "What is it?" 

"It's one of my old labs. I use it for storage now." 

"I think we can slip down there. Crawl back, please," Roll commanded. 

Light shuffled his heavy frame backwards. Roll pried off the grate with her fingernails and tore up the opening to make enough room for someone to pass through. She made sure to split the sides of the hole downward so Dr. Light wouldn't cut himself. Roll poured herself out of the hole headfirst, grabbed onto the edge of the vent, and uncurled herself until she was upright, like a gymnast. It was quick drop to the ground from there. She outstretched her arms to the ceiling and saw Dr. Light trying to come down feet first, his short little legs dangling in the air. 

"Little help, please." 

"Stop flailing your legs, Dr. Light." 

"How much ground is left?" 

"You'll be fine, just keep sliding out," Roll said as she tried to get a hold of Dr. Light's kicking legs. "Come on." 

"Okay, here I go." 

Dr. Light's pudgy body slowly shifted out of the ventilation tunnel like a melted marshmallow through a pipe. Roll deftly caught him as his center of balance came down and set him on the ground. 

"Ah, thank you, Roll," Dr. Light said as he brushed himself off. "My lab coat will need some laundering though." 

"I'll get right on it," Roll said compliantly. 

"No, no, not right now. That's all right." Light scratched his nose, walked over to the cabinet, and pulled out a cardboard box. "Sit on the table, Roll, I'll take care of your hands." 

Roll did as she was told. Dr. Light dug through the box and found what looked like a pair of gloves, but they were the same material and color of Roll's skin. 

"I think these are from your model," he said as he came over. Light cleaned off the tattered skin remaining, trimming it down to the wrists where the gloves would meet. He fit the gloves over Roll's skeletal hands. "Good," he said when he saw they fit. He did the same to the other hand. "Now that laser welder has to be somewhere around here. Help me look for it." 

Roll jumped off the table and went to the left side of the room to rifle through boxes while Dr. Light went to the right. Most of the boxes contained circuit boards, miscellaneous electronic equipment, defunct technology, and other things that couldn't be identified by anyone else but Dr. Light. She pulled off box after box from the pile into another pile. Until she came across one marked 'Roll - Upgrade'. 

Immediately she tore open the top and looked inside. Her eyes widened at the objects lying within. Several strength enhancing components, a small, tapered cannon-like object, a strange visor like helmet with green and yellow trim, and those were just the identifiable parts. 

"Dr. Light, what's this?" she asked like a child asking her father. 

The rotund doctor crossed the room and looked over Roll's shoulder. "Oh, dear. I had completely forgotten about that," he said disappointingly. 

"What is it?" 

"Well, when I first upgraded your brother, I made a second set of parts for you, as a spare, in case... in case your brother ever..." He paused and coughed to clear his throat. "You have virtually the same systems, so it was quite easy to do, but once Wily kept coming back and back, I couldn't bear the thought of that happening to you, having the responsibility of saving the world again and again, constantly putting your life at risk. So I stored them down here. And forgot about them." 

Roll looked up at Dr. Light, her yellow ponytail snapping back. "Dr. Light, I need these." 

"Roll, I can't..." 

"We don't know where Rock is or if he made it out. If we get topside we might be surrounded by robots, and we'll have no way to defend ourselves. I need these upgrades. Please?" 

"No, Roll, I can't do that to you. I can't, in good conscience, allow you to take this. Your brother does it because he has a strong sense of justice. You can't imagine what a burden it is-" 

"Rock asked for the burden," Roll said. Dr. Light paused, speechless. "Why can't you do the same for me?" 

Dr. Light looked up and away, lost in thought. Roll waited eagerly for his answer, gazing up at him with large, blue eyes. He scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, all the parenting books say you're supposed to treat siblings the same." 

"Yay!" Roll jumped up and hugged her creator. "Thank you so much, Dr. Light." 

Light hugged her back. "All right, let's find the laser welder first, get your hands back on, and then... we'll start upgrading."   


* * *

"Hrummm..." Grizzled Jack shifted his square jaw around, clicking it out of place as he grinded his teeth. He had three days worth of stubble, a furred cap, and wide crazy eyes that seemed illuminated in the dark. His face was coated in a thick layer of dirt and he slowly moved the axe in his hand up and down in a dawdling chopping motion. His gray sweater was stained with dark red and brown streaks and blotches. 

The two stared at Jack with scared eyes, Mega Man still in the odd position of cradling Link. Jack stepped into the room, first walking to the center and then circling around to face them, never pivoting, like a buzzard circling his prey. The two felt very small and vulnerable as Jack cast a huge sunset shadow over them. 

"Well, ain't you two's funny lookin'," he snarled. 

"Are you Grizzled Jack?" Link asked. 

"Well, don't that beat all. Y'all done heard of me. That's exactly the way I DON'T LIKE IT." He lunged in close to their faces, his head seeming to swell up to enormous size as his eyes bugged out. 

"Well," he continued. "I don't reckon you seem to be from around these here parts," Jack said as he looked Mega Man up and down. "Where you from, boy?" 

"I'm from-" 

"He's from outside Hyrule," Link quickly interrupted before Mega Man would start running his mouth. "Very far. Island somewhere." 

"Is that so? Must have a lot of sharp corners in that there country." Jack said as he knocked on his helmet. "What's it called?" 

"A helmet," Mega Man said. 

"Your homeland! Boy, you sass me again, I'll take my belt to you." He grunted under his breath deeply. "You've all done worn out yer welcomes, so iffen you must be blind er jest damn stupid, yer seen the signs out there that I DON'T LIKE VISITORS!" 

He switched his axe to the both hands to show that he meant business. 

"Wait, wait, wait," Link said holding his hand in front of him. "We just wanted some information. We know you used to be part of the thieves' guild." 

Jack stopped his axe short of thrusting forward. "Information? You... you wanna know about me?" 

"Sure... I mean, yes!" 

"Well..." Jack scratched his head under his cap. "Can't say I've had visitors before wantin' to know about me. Hrummm..." Jack scratched his chin as he looked up, lost in thought. "All right, sournds good. But first, we'll have some dinna. I've been starvin' all day. And get up off the floor. You two look likes you was in love or something." 

Link and Mega Man stood up, Link still favoring his injured leg, as Jack pulled out a dead animal carcass from his backpack and held it up by the tail. "Here, I caught this in the woods, cook it up." He plopped the fuzzy animal on the ground in front of them with a hefty grunt. It was about three feet long with a fat and round body, marked by light-orange and black stripes. 

"What?" 

"Cook this up out back. There be a fire pit enna spit out thar already." 

Link and Mega Man looked at each other. The corpse smelled horribly musky like it had been dead and sitting in that backpack all day. Link shrugged and moved to pick up the carcass. 

"Not YOU! You..." Jack pointed at Mega Man, who returned an innocent gaze. "You," he pointed at Link, "I'm-a gonna tell my story to." 

"But-" 

"Yer the one who wanted the information, dintcha? Let yer friend thar cook the meal." 

Mega Man protested, "But I-" 

"Do it!" 

Mega Man cautiously picked up the heavy animal body over his shoulder and trudged out of the cabin's front door. Going through his database looking for how to cook an animal, he walked around back and used his night vision to look for a "fire pit". There was no hole where fire was coming out, but there was an area of ground saturated with ash and twigs. That would be an ideal spot for cooking an animal carcass. Above the area were two sticks propped up, holding up another stick placed horizontally. 

Mega Man looked from the structure to the bloated cadaver, not quite sure how a trio of sticks could be made into a cooking device. In his time, all food was automatically prepared, freeze-dried into a compact slab, and placed in storage until someone wanted to eat. He knew people were forced to hunt and gather for food in history, but never learned the details of what they did after the hunting and gathering. In fact, he had never made a meal himself. He never needed to eat, and it was Roll's job to prepare meals. 

Mega Man knelt before the ashed circle on the ground. The first step would be in creating a fire, and that would need some wood. Ah, an idea came to Mega Man. The sticks were simply placed there in preparation of needing wood. He plucked them out of the ground and laid them down. Gripping two, he began rubbing them together at super-human speed, his arms blurring blue. A thin wisp of smoke started wafting from the point of contact and soon a yellow spark ignited the wood. The robot waved his hand over the small flicker to keep it oxygenated, then brought the other wood closer to the conflagration. The wood was thick, but the fire wouldn't last long. Mega Man pulled up the animal carcass and held it close to the fire with his two hands, slowly rotating it to provide an even heating. 

"Perfect," he said to himself. 

Meanwhile, Grizzled Jack gingerly stepped over to his table, avoiding his own traps and making creaks in the floor. Sitting in his homemade chair he fetched a flint stone in his pocket and lit the candle on the table. "Come over here and sit up a spell," he made a 'come here' gesture with his hand. "Just plop yourself right... oh," Jack trailed off as he realized he had no chairs anywhere for Link. "Well, never mind that then." 

Link kneeled on the ground next to Jack, making him slightly shorter than the woodsman. Jack picked up the pile of paper on the desk. 

He said, "This here is me manifesto." 

"That's a manifesto?" 

"Yup, plan to send it in to the Hyrule Board of Publicworthy Items. They best publish it or else. Explains the whole thing right on down the line. Every conspiracial plot, every explanation for everything. Did you know that the King himself knows about the disappearance of cows from the farm fields down south at the ranch. They say there's people from another world out there, far away that fly in big dish-like ships and take our cows. They think it's crazy! But it ain't crazy, tis the truth! Ah've seen it." 

"Uh-huh, right," Link said, trying to feign belief as best he could. 

"And another thing. The water in Kakariko Pond? Well, you can better believe I ain't drinking it. They put... secret potions in there. You know what they are?" 

"Er, no." 

"It's a secret chemical they've been developing down in the castle dungeon. You drink it, and you become as weak and docile as a kitten. They placate you!" 

"So if you don't drink the pond water, what do you drink?" 

"I squeeze the juices out of every vegetable I grow meself and every animal I done hunted. Save it up, use it for rationing." 

This time Link couldn't repress his disgust as he stuck his tongue out, "Blagh." 

"That's good tastin', I'll tell ya whut. You ain't asked me the question yet." 

"What question?" 

"The question you should have been asking me from the start!" 

"Uhhh... what was that question?" 

"Why is the kingdom of Hyrule doing this to all its citizens?" 

Link nodded in acknowledgement. Grizzled Jack stared at him with his crazy eyes. Link looked around. It seemed like Jack was waiting for him to say something. "Um... why is the kingdom of Hyrule doing this to all its citizens?" 

"To control them! To keep the panic down. They're going to revolutionize society. They're going to bring forth a system to keep track of every man, woman, and child. It's all a principle of the sociological evidence we see today. The ideology of modern topicalism. The autonomous collective will enforce this philosophy and society will succumb to its advances. It's all here in chapter one." He picked up the first page. "The pre-industrial society in which we live, the physical duresses placed on the working man resulting in classification of the class struggle fall into 42 categories. Category the first-" 

"Uh," Link hastily interrupted. "Is there anything in there about your time in the thieves' guild... perhaps?" 

"Eh? Oh. Lemme see here..." Jack rustled through his pages, tearing through paper heedless of the organization. "Uhhh, Resolutions of the Technological Age, no...the Sophistication of the Organization-Dependent, no... forgive me, it's still a bit unfinished. Wait, maybe in here about the Strategy of Choosers Under the Beggar System. The moral code of our society demands that the working man must place a burden of his time. The oversocialization leads to poor self-esteem. This psychological manifestation of the self, heretofore known as the 'I', is a direct-" 

"What about your experience in the thieves' guild. Like, when did you retire? Maybe something about Blind the Thief. I'm sure that would be a publicworthy item." 

"Blind the Thief? Feh, that lowlife couldn't steal an apple from a tree. After he disappeared, I stayed up here and the whole gang moved down south to the desert valley. Never seen 'em since and don't care to." 

Link's eyes lightened up as he finally got the information he wanted. "Ah." 

"Now where was I? The thought and behavior tracts generate a feeling of self-shamedness, a spiral of shame, if you will, that can... have..." Jack trailed off as his eyes became blank, staring at the doorway. Link turned and saw Mega Man there holding the now cooked animal. 

"I believe it's been cooked thoroughly enough," he said as he held up the smoking carcass with both hands. The fur had been left on during the cooking, giving it a horrid smell and a charred outer shell. Its organs had also not been removed, meaning the body had bloated up and bubbled and oozed over the cracks in the flesh 

"You... you... you... You didn't clean it or gut it or skin it even! I spent three days hunting that thing!" His voice rose with each description until it shook the cabin. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to cook-" 

Grizzled Jack jumped from the table, overturning it, making a loud crash. "YOU'VE WASTED THREE DAYS WORTH OF MAH FOOD! GET OUT!" 

Link hunkered down to avoid the flying table and made a beeline for the door. Mega Man stood there dumbfounded, still holding the steaming animal, until Link grabbed his shoulder and pulled him with, making him drop the carcass. Jack began throwing a tantrum, flailing his arms and legs, kicking and hitting anything that was in range - the wall, the table. Both Mega Man and Link looked up at the ceiling where the blades began clinking together faster and faster from the action under them. The candle spilled on the ground rolled next to a dry piece of uprooted wood, starting it on fire. The flames spread quickly over the dry wooded cabin. 

"Time to go," Link said hastily. Grizzled Jack continued screaming and bellowing like an angry bear as the two heroes hotfooted it out of the house. 

**Next Chapter: Side Quest**


	8. Chapter 8: Side Quest

_Chapter 8: Side Quest_

"By the goddesses, where in the world did you learn to cook like that? They do eat where you come from, don't they?" 

"Sure, but the food comes pre-cooked." 

"Pre-cooked? How does that work." 

"Well, it's a... it's complicated," Mega Man stopped himself before he launched into another long speech that Link wouldn't understand. 

"Sounds like people have it a lot easier there. All your food is pre-made, your homes are constructed better." 

"Yes, it is," Mega Man said, as he looked at the sun rising over Kakariko Pond. The orange hues creeping over the trees of the Lost Woods danced along the lake's surface like a million diamonds rolling on a blue plate of glass. A jumping trout broke the surface in the middle of the water, grasping for a fly hovering above. His return to the lake created an ever-resonating flow of beautiful ripples. "But we don't have this." 

The duo continued down south. Their previous location and the expanse of Hyrule meant they were essentially going from one end of the land to the other. The journey was long and arduous, but the area they trekked through was one of the more peaceful regions - few monsters or creatures lurking in between the thinly spaced oak trees. 

The conversations were still sparse though. Both were still unsure of each other, both were still sizing each other up. Mega Man knew that Link had a distaste for him and didn't want the robot anywhere near him. That sort of sensation was understandable, but it didn't make the walk pleasant. Link had no idea who this Mega Man was and the sorcery surrounding him was like nothing he had ever seen or heard of. His initial cautiousness had not been assuaged in anyway. Plus his foreign manners were constantly getting them in trouble and getting in his way. He was a stranger forced along his journey. 

No, Link had no reason to trust him, and didn't see why he should. He had done nothing for him. Nothing related to the prophecy, nothing helpful. He was just a burden he had to shoulder for some reason the powers that be deemed necessary. 

The landscape began to slope upwards into a gentle hill. Upon reaching the peak, they spied a small isolated house down below in the valley. 

"Odd place for a house," Link stated. 

"Unusual? Couldn't it be a farm?" 

"Everywhere's a farm... unless you live in the village. Come on, let's go in." Link started sliding down the hill at a brisk pace, letting gravity do the work for him. 

"Whoa, wait, do you know these people?" Mega Man followed him down, holding his arms out to keep balance. 

"No, no idea," Link said as he reached the bottom of the hill. "Why? Is this another foreign custom?" 

"No, it's called common decency and right to privacy. Where every human has the right keep any information they want secluded and protected and..." 

Link just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, here, every house is essentially open for others. Most don't mind too much, they're glad of the company. Besides, the people are pretty friendly to me, given that I saved their lives." 

Link stepped up to the door and opened it without a second thought as Mega Man came up behind him. Mega Man stopped himself from protesting further, reminding himself that he was in a foreign country - a VERY foreign country - and customs were different here. Meanwhile, he noticed the house's front lawn was covered by bushes in a very erratic pattern, scattered out here and there instead of nice simple rows. He doubted this was a farm, but the purpose of its location he couldn't discern. He turned back to Link, but he was already through the door. The robot quickly followed. 

Link approached a woman standing in the house next to the dining table. "Oh, thank the Triforce, someone's here. Can you help me? My lawn has an infestation of buzzblobs out there. I need someone to get rid of them for me. If you do it, I'll give you something good." 

"No problem, ma'am." Link passed Mega Man and exited the house. Mega Man looked between the two and followed him outside. 

"Well, that was an unusual exchange," Mega Man commented. 

"Eh, that's how things get done around here. People do things for other people and they reward you. It's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me, as long as it's not too tough." Link gazed out from the steps of the house, analyzing the landscape. "So where are these buzzblobs the lady was talking about?" 

"I don't even know what a buzzblob is." 

"Little green critters you see around. They look cute but they pack a mean wallop." Link stepped down and started walking through the lawn. 

Mega Man looked around one more time. "All I see are bushes. Perhaps the lady's eyesight isn't all that good." 

"Yeah, she must be senile or something." Link theorized that she was mistaking the bushes for buzzblobs. They were about the same color and Mega Man was probably right about her eye acuity. He withdrew his sword from the scabbard, gleaming white in the sunlight, and padded up to a bush. "I'll just cut these bushes down so I can get that reward." Link swung his sword against the shrub. 

Link stiffened up as he was enveloped in a yellow electrical aura. Spikes of hair stung out from under his cap as he gritted his teeth in surprise and pain. The bush's leaves fell away, revealing a tall green blobby looking thing with two small footpods and large black eyes, making contact with the sword. Its two single eyes were furrowed in anger. 

The electrical current stopped and Link fell back, smoke tufting out from his head, his eyes spiraling around in confusion. "I... found one," he said weakly. 

"They must be hiding in the bushes," Mega Man commented. 

"Yes... I figured... that out," Link said as he slumped back in exhaustion. 

The buzzblob began wiggling around the yard, its jelly-like body wobbling back and forth as it shuffled its little footpods around the grass, perambulating without destination. Mega Man approached the creature guardedly while Link recovered and brushed himself off. "It must dole out some kind of electrical current when threatened, like an electrical eel. But how does-" Mega Man reached out his hand towards the buzzblob. It did not shy away, so he touched it on its head. 

Electricity began flowing through Mega Man's systems. He arched his back in pain as all he could see was bright white surrounding him. "RRRRRAAAAGHHHHH!" 

Link came to his senses as he heard the scream. He saw the blue solider flashing in a brighter white than he had seen, electrical arcs running up and down his body. "No!" he shouted. He reached into his pack and pulled out his hookshot. As soon as he attached it to his arm he aimed for the buzzblob and fired the trigger. The spring-loaded grappling spear shot forward and hit the green monster, pushing him back. 

Mega Man swayed back and forth, dizzy and barely conscious. Sparse tendrils of lightning still skimmed over his form. 

Link approached him. "Wow, are you okay? Usually it's just a big shock. He must've-" 

"My system..." 

"What?" 

"My system." Mega Man grunted and slowly held up his right forearm. Link could see some sort of small gauge - a bar that was half-yellow, half-black. "That... that... thanks." Link looked up at Mega Man's face. "If you hadn't done that, it would've killed me." 

Link paused, a little stunned. "No problem." 

Mega Man held up his indicator to Link. "This is my power level, it goes down every time I take energy damage. If it goes to zero, I die. I can usually recharge it with energy capsules I find from other robots. But I don't expect I'll find any here." 

"So you have to be careful, because there's no way to recharge." 

"Exactly." 

"All right, we'll have to be careful about that then. I guess you'll have to sit this mission out." 

Mega Man looked over to a nearby tree with an unusual base branch jutting out. "Perhaps not." Mega Man walked over to the tree and broke off the bough, wielding it like an oversized sword. 

"You set 'em up, I'll knock 'em down?" Link said as he held up his hookshot. 

"Sounds like a plan," Mega Man agreed. 

Link fired the trigger, and the hookshot's end latched onto the bush, uprooting it swiftly. Two buzzblobs wiggled away like frightened slow-moving rabbits. Mega Man slung his makeshift bludgeoner over to maneuver the little monsters away from the yard, using the soft leafy end to coax them away. They continued in this pattern for the rest of the day.   


* * *

Zelda stood at the open door and knocked on it. Horace looked up from his table where he was sorting miscellaneous paperwork by candlelight. "What? Oh, Princess Zelda." 

"Captain, I need the key to the royal documents vault." 

"Oh." Horace's mouth upturned in a grimace of slight annoyance as he set his work down and fished into his pocket for his ring of keys. "Shouldn't you have access everywhere in the castle. Don't you have a key already?" 

"Well, yes, but I seem to have misplaced it." 

"Ah," he snickered. "What do you need it for?" 

"I need to access information on Vizier Noktwor." 

"Ah, have you found more evidence against him?" 

"Perhaps. You know about the thread I found on the tile hole?" 

"Right." 

"Well, it was purple." 

"...And?" 

"And the vizier wears a purple robe." 

"So does the chairman. So does the attendant. So does the cook. So do I when I have my dress uniform." 

Zelda opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it and looked down at the floor. Horace stood up and approached her. 

"Look, detective work isn't an instantaneous thing. It takes a lot of patience and the work is dirty and boring. Maybe you'd be happier doing something else, and leaving this to us?" 

"Don't presume to tell me what I can and can't do, thank you very much. I am going to help solve this." 

"But we already have people working on it. Link is even out there right now, doing field investigation." 

"I said I am completely capable of doing my own investigation," she claimed as she swiped the keys out of his hand. 

Horace sighed disgruntledly and threw up his arms. "Fine, enjoy." 

Zelda took the keys and headed off without another word. She was doing just fine on this. She had already discovered the method that the pendants were taken out of the castle. She had discovered a possible link to the suspect. Everything was going swimmingly, she thought. She certainly wasn't having difficulty and she wasn't bored or dirty. She was going to show everyone that she could do this, that she wasn't just another helpless girl, subservient to everyone's will. She was an independent thinker. She was just the same as everyone else. How dare they try to condescend her just because she was royalty. 

Zelda gingerly stepped down the stairs leading to the document vault in the castle basement, a significantly dirtier section of the castle. The wooden door was the only security here, but who would want to steal payroll logs? 

Zelda inserted the key in and opened the door. Looking inside, she saw the vizier himself sitting at a desk, looking at a stack of yellow papers. He looked up suddenly with a surprised gasp on his droll little mouth. 

"Princess Zelda? What are you doing down here?" 

"I... what are _you_ doing down here?" she quickly retorted. 

"I was going over some records of law. There's a dispute over some land near Lake Hylia." 

"Oh..." she responded sheepishly, although still suspicious whether it was a conjured excuse. "I'm checking some employment records," she said after quick, careful thought, excluding important details. 

"Oh, very well then. I'll just leave you alone then." Noktwor took his pile of papers and headed out of the room. 

Zelda eyed him suspiciously. His leaving so suddenly seemed so unusual and his reaction was no redeeming factor either. If only she had some hard evidence that he was the thief, she could put him in the dungeon in an instant. She moved to the personnel records and looked up the vizier's name.   


* * *

"Go on. Shoo! Get!" Mega Man uttered as he brushed off the last two blobby creatures. The lawn was now completely clear of buzzblobs, as well as bushes. Their gravesites were marked by small stumps and collections of leaves. 

Link replaced his hookshot in his bag and sauntered over to Mega Man. "Well, that looks to be all of them," he said, overlooking the yard. "Come on." 

Link didn't see the wandering chicken that had come out to the front yard. He turned around and set his foot down on the tubby bird, making a loud "BWAGACK!" 

"AHH!" Link screeched and zoomed past Mega Man and ran behind a large oak tree. 

Mega Man's eyes scrunched in extreme curiosity. "What? It's a chicken." 

"It's a cucco!" 

Mega Man watched the frightened chicken hop away to a distant corner of the grass. "It's running away. Kinda like you." 

"You don't know what those things can do if you get them angry, man. They've got powers or something. They all know where the others are. You mess with one of them, they all get on you. They're mad." 

Mega Man was thinking someone else was mad, but held his tongue. "Well, it's gone way over there, so I think you're safe." 

Link stepped out from behind the tree, his eyes wide and darting around. "You sure?" 

"I'm looking at it right now. It's way over there." 

"Okay, let's go." 

Link cautiously moved towards the house, stepping on his tiptoes. "Be careful, don't make a sound." 

Once again, the customs of this land confused him, but he did as he was told and made his way up the steps and walked through the door. Once inside and safe, Link approached the old woman. "We've done as you asked. The buzzblobs are gone." As well as your greenery, thought Link, but them's the breaks. 

"Splendid. I'll give you a special reward for this." She pulled out a medium-sized canvas bag behind her. 

Link beamed with delight as he held up the bag with one hand like a trophy. "I got bombs! I can use these to damage enemies and knock holes in some walls." 

Link stopped as he saw Mega Man glared at him inquisitively. 

"Why do you do that?" the robot asked. 

"Er... I don't know, it's just my thing." 

Link placed the bag in his knapsack sheepishly and the two walked out the door. "Back on the quest," Link commented. The landscape here continued gently sloping downward as they continued south. 

Behind them, a small buzzblob poked its head out from the horizon of the hill, its large black eyes peering at the pair. It began to shuffle down after them. 

**Next Chapter: Swordfish**


	9. Chapter 9: Swordfish

_Chapter 9: Swordfish_

Mega Man noticed the dirt under his treaded feet gradually turning to sand. The temperate climate was also starting to increase in heat. "We're getting closer to the desert." 

"Yeah, not much farther now," Link commented. 

"This land doesn't seem spaced out enough to have a desert climactic zone so close to a temperate zone." 

"Uhhhhh... well, the plateaus there prevent a lot of precipitation from coming down and uh... I don't know, I'm not a weatherseid." 

"A weatherseid?" 

"A fortune teller who specializes in telling the upcoming weather." 

"Ah, a meteorologist." 

"A what?" 

"We have the same thing where I come from, only we call them meteorologists, and... well, yes, that's all." Mega Man was about to say they used actual science to predict weather, but he thought that might seem insulting. 

"Do they do anything with meteors?" 

"No, it's just a name." 

"Why do they call them meteorologists if they don't do anything with meteors?" 

"Our language is a very strange one." 

"You should try reading ancient Hylian some time." 

Soon they entered a steep valley. The ground was now pure sand and the snaking path was dotted with copper-green boulders on the landscape. Crows and vultures glided in the distance, searching for carcasses to feed on. Luckily, they weren't circling, as far as they could see. 

Link took an unbeaten path into a claustrophobic crevice in a plateau wall. The high cliffs closed off the light coming down into a width barely big enough for a person. Mega Man looked around warily. "This is the entrance to the thieves guild?" he asked. 

"Last time I was here, it was. There was a small set up of thieves here, they gave me some rupees. No idea why, though," he commented as he squeezed around a corner. 

Mega Man's strong sense of justice was getting to him. He had to resist the urge to play the enforcer and arrest every last one of them he saw. The customs were different here. The laws were different. And he was nowhere near an authority here. Yet, they didn't seem to have any police force at all. 

"So, if there's a thieves guild here, why don't we call the authorities and have them arrested?" 

"Ha, they'd be out of here so fast before you even finished telling a soldier. They have ears everywhere. Besides, they're not much threat. Not in the grand scheme of things, at least." 

Link adjusted the sword at his side, pulling it closer into his body. He side-shuffled into the initial gap spackled with jagged outcroppings of stone. 

"Watch yourself," he said as he switched back to a normal gait. 

Mega Man turned to the side and followed Link in. The temperature was much cooler in this ravine, due to the shadow. A crow perched over the edge high above looked down upon them, but remained as still as a statue. 

Link set his boot on a projection from the wall, climbing over a break too small to walk through. Finally, they reached a small cul-de-sac ending the crevice. 

"Oh, it's you again," Link said acerbically. 

Mega Man couldn't see from behind Link's body who he was talking to, even as he tried to peer over his shoulder. All he could notice was a slice of sunshine permeating the pit around them. He squeezed between the cliff and Link and saw a middle-aged man with thick jet black hair and an equally thick mustache standing in front of a wooden door. He said nothing to Link's comment. 

"Who is this?" Mega Man asked. 

"I met him before, an ex-member of the thieves guild. I guess they let him back in." Link approached the man. "Where'd your sign go?" 

The man said nothing. 

"Hey, you remember me, right? You opened a treasure chest for me?" Link waited a few seconds for a response and received none. He crossed his arms, thinking about what to do next. 

"Maybe he's deaf," Mega Man suggested. 

"No, he's talked to me before. Come on, man, I kept it a secret, just like you said. Can you let us in?" 

Again, no response. The silent thief merely looked at Link and cocked his head slightly, like he was going through the motions of talking without actually talking. 

"We're not gonna make trouble. We just need some information. It's important." 

Nothing. 

"Please?" 

Nothing. 

Link turned back to Mega Man and started digging in his pockets. The blue robot said, "Are you thinking of climbing over?" 

"No, actually, I was thinking bribery." He fished out a set of purple gems from his knapsack and presented them to the silent treasure opener. "Would sixty rupees change your mind?" 

Mega Man, although surprised by this tactic, realized the logic right away. Nonetheless, the stratagem was wasted. 

"Try more," Mega Man advised. 

"Okay," Link gritted his teeth as he poked around for more. "A hundred rupees. Come on man, you gotta take it." 

The middle-aged man remained as silent and steadfast as ever. 

"Is that a lot?" Mega Man added as a side-note. 

"I thought it was," Link said slightly astonishedly. He put the rupees back in when he saw the thief was strangely uninterested. 

"Perhaps it's some sort of secret phrase," Mega Man suggested. "We use them a lot in my world." 

"Oh, yeah, um," Link tried to think of potential secret words to a thief. "'Blind'... 'rupees', 'Chris sent me'..." 

"God, debug, admin, root, password, password-one, one-two-three-four-five, one-four-seven, love, secret, default," Mega Man chimed in. 

"Getting a little obscure there." 

"These are the most common passwords in my time." 

Link shook his head dismissively. Nothing they said made any difference in the middle-aged man's expression or body language. He pondered the obstacle in his way. He was no stranger to such things, but they were usually in the form of a wall or locked door. Obviously he couldn't use violence against an ordinary citizen, especially not one who had helped him in the past. Those who seemed no threat often were the biggest ones, he thought as he remembered Blind's disguise. Hitting a locked door never helped either. Maybe a threat might make him budge though. 

"All right, buddy, if you don't let us through, me and my pal here are gonna have to get tough." 

Nothing. 

"You hear me?" Link stepped back into a battle stance and held the hilt of his sword still in its scabbard. He glowered menacingly at the thief as Mega Man looked aghast. 

"You're not thinking of using violence against him?" 

"No, of course not," he whispered, "Just play along," he said as he winked. Mega Man got the idea and stepped back, brandishing his Mega Buster. 

"Step back or we will open fire," Mega Man said forcefully. 

Link muttered something about having to work on that and cautiously shuffled forward. Still holding his sword with one hand he came toe-to-toe with the unmoving thief, crouched down into a battle position. Using his other hand he slowly reached out and took hold of the silent man's shoulder. He did nothing. Gently, Link began pushing the man aside. Surprisingly, he yielded to the pressure and pleasantly shifted aside from the doorway. 

Link's eyes opened with amazement as he stood back up. "Well, uh, thanks." He looked back to Mega Man. "That went pretty well," he grinned. 

"Yes... it did," Mega Man responded, a little confused and a little wary. 

Nonetheless, the two opened the door and entered the cliffside cavern.   


* * *

"Throughout my years, I have done many things, I have helped many people. I have always been on the side of good, or at least I thought I've been. Everything I've tried to do, I've done for the good of mankind. I always thought, someday, people would rise above their violent tendencies, their primate instincts of 'kill or be killed', 'take it before someone else takes it and defend it with your life'. Greed, avarice, selfishness. 

"But other people have shown me that some habits are hard to break. They are the ones who make it necessary for weapons to exist in this world. Sometimes I wonder whether the existence of such weapons encourages people to use them. But perhaps not. The weapons are not to blame, it is the people who use them. People use them for their own devices, to further their own ends. 

"Then does that make me any better than them? For I make weapons as well, to further my own ends. These ends may be noble. But does it make me any different than the madmen who wield them? The results are always the same - people get hurt, great works are demolished, resources are wasted, all because of one single man, who somehow can't be stopped. One bad apple can truly ruin a whole bunch. 

"And so I make the sacrifice. I sacrifice my own work, I sacrifice my own legacy, to keep humanity going. To keep it out of tyrannical rule, to keep it out of returning to the dark ages when people fought each other over petty concerns. For some reason, we must still keep a tie to that era in order to keep it safe. Maybe it's part of human nature that can't be taken out. But why does it have to be my sacrifice? 

"No, not my sacrifice. My children. My work. I wanted my creations to never know a world of hate and greed - insanity. I wanted humans to be able to accept robots as fellow partners in life. Yet some people don't agree with that, and some people take it too far. There can never be a happy medium. People can't accept such things so easily. It takes generations, and it will be a time that I won't be able to live to see. 

"But it's that hope that makes me do the things that I do. That makes me sacrifice my children to serve man. To protect them. Cause they're the only ones who can do it. They're the only ones with the power to. And I'm the only one who can give them that power. I wonder why I was chosen with this 'gift'. But, for the better of humanity, I must use it. May whatever powers higher than me forgive me for what I've done. 

"It was bad enough I had to make Rock into what he is today - a war machine. I gave him a taste of power. Far more than he should have gotten. Many sleepless nights I spent wondering whether he would abuse it and become far worse than those he was meant to defend against. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I feared he would become overwhelmed with it. The only thing that stopped him was his strong sense of justice, something I never imagined a robot could have with the A.I. I programmed into him. He surprised us all. 

"I can only hope that his sister will be the same." 

Dr. Light steadily approached the operating board, where Roll lay, his shadow covering her like a shroud. Her start-up procedure was about to complete its process. Her eyes began to flutter erratically. Suddenly, they burst open, pupils dilated, glazed at the ceiling. The first thing she looked at was Dr. Light. 

"Good morning, Roll," he sighed. "How do you feel?" 

"I feel..." Roll flexed her arm, looking at the latex glove and arm, covered in gauntlets of armor. "...good." 

**Next Chapter: The Thieves Guild**


	10. Chapter 10: The Thieves Guild

_Chapter 10: The Thieves Guild_

"All right, Roll. Try to stand up." 

Roll, after readjusting to her surroundings, swung herself around and sat up on the table. "This is amazing. I suddenly have a greater sense of what is around me. Like I'm super-aware." 

"You are super-aware, for lack of a better term. You needed sensory upgrades in order to properly engage in battles, like your brother. You certainly didn't need heightened perception as a housekeeper." 

Roll nodded as she flexed her arms under her new body suit. The rubbery feel was a little uncomfortable, but still limber and pliant. It was colored a deep lavender purple with a green stripe running down both sides of her body. On her arms, legs, and torso were thin ringlets of reflective metal, similar to medieval chain armor in a way. "This is part of the dioxin filter," she realized. 

"Right, I had to make do with what I could find. There wasn't enough to cover your entire body, so I did the essential areas most likely to get hit." 

"I understand." Roll continued her inspection and looked around her person for the rest of her new features. She found two pistol-like weapons in holsters at her sides. Ah, yes, the best part. She drew them out to take a look at them. They had a thin squarish barrel with and treaded handle for gripping. Very streamlined. "These look like modified laser welders." 

"Laser welders AND proton fusers. Sort of a hybrid really. Take a shot." 

Dr. Light stepped out of the way, gesturing to a metal panel at the end of the room. Roll held out the gun in front of her and fired. A sunray of light flared up at the barrel and a short pink laser beam resounded with a vibrant PING as it shot from the gun and hit the panel in the center, causing a flared singe mark. Roll grinned as she admired her new weapon. It was lightweight, and she experienced almost no kickback, much smoother than her brother's buster. And it made a cool sound when you shot it. 

"Sweeeeet." 

"Oh, my goodness, I almost forgot." Dr. Light reached out and touched Roll's head. Her vision was suddenly masked by a green tint. 

"Hey, what th-" 

"The laser pistol has a rather nasty flare-up, if you didn't notice. Over-exposure will damage your optical calibration. So you need to wear this special tinted visor when in battle." 

Roll reholstered her pistol and felt up around her eyes. There was indeed a thin green strip of plastic covering her eye line, fitting to her face. That wasn't all, though. The visor connected to some device around her head. She felt around, finding it placed tightly around the ears and just above her neck. It seemed to consist of a strip of metal covering the back of her head, tapering off at her ears where her visor was attached, and a strip of metal curving over, coming down to her forehead in the center. Apparently, there was still a small outlet for her ponytail to go through. "What is this, some sort of helmet?" 

"Exactly. Some sort of helmet. I didn't have the materials for a full helmet, but you needed some cerebral protection, so I made this sort of 'skeletal helmet'. I'm sorry it's so piece-meal." 

Roll smiled and put a hand on Dr. Light's shoulder. "It's great. I shouldn't have any problems with this. Thank you." 

Dr. Light shyly smiled. "Well, are we ready to make it up to the surface?" 

Roll took out her gun and spun it in her finger. "Let's." 

She kicked the metal door open and jumped out. Her new battle protocols sprang into action, running over all elements of this escort exercise. She held one of her guns straight ahead of her, then whipped around behind, pointing it up at the ceiling, looking in all possible directions for hostiles. She gestured to the doctor that it was safe to come out into the corridor. In this normal walking area of the basement, the walls retained their gray concrete brick structure, reinforced to act as a fall-out shelter should the need arise. The lack of wear and tear on the hallway indicated that no one had arrived down here. Taking the lead, Roll shuffled down towards the exit, keeping her gun ready in both hands, darting her eyes in all directions, her ears attuned to every little sound, everything still strangely tinted neon green. 

"So far, so good," Roll commented. 

Dr. Light huffed along behind, swinging his arms energetically in the air. He wasn't out of shape for his age, but he wasn't running any marathons on an engineer's diet. 

"Phew. Let's... go up this stairwell... It's quicker," he panted with his hands on his knees. 

Roll looked to her left at the metal door, peering into its tiny window for anything suspicious. The stairway looked clean, no evidence of any robot masters trying to force their way in, but she couldn't see up to the top. It was another risk she was going to have to take. 

"Here we go." Roll regripped her laser pistol and popped the door open. "Yaargh!" she primally screamed as she barreled up the stairs. With a final burst of speed at the top, she jump-kicked the door open, rolled onto one knee, and aimed her gun ahead. Her eyes scowled with fortitude and eagerness. 

It was quiet, too quiet. Roll cautiously kept her eyes peeled as she stood up, searching and listening for signs of action. Rubble and debris littered the area, pieces of wall were completely torn down, unveiling the rooms beyond. Even the ceiling had jagged holes punched through. But the only motion was just from a broken off pipe dripping water from the second story. Their home was smashed to ruins, but there wasn't a trace of the guilty. 

Roll clicked off the visor and it swiped away back into her helmet. "There's nothing here," she said frustratedly as Dr. Light finished climbing the stairs after her. 

"How curious," Dr. Light breathed. "What could Dr. Wily have wanted?" 

"I don't know, but I'm willing to bet they've cooked up something. Maybe a trap." 

"No, look. Ahead." 

Dr. Light pointed through the wrecked house. Some rooms were destroyed but other parts of the house were untouched. "Most interesting," he said. "Surely if they had meant to destroy us or destroy the house, they would have done so in a better fashion." 

"Dr. Wily's never attacked you before, he's always gone for global domination. I'm beginning to wonder why this time should be any different." Roll looked closer at the damage. "It's almost as if he's created a path towards something, but for what?" 

"Well, we won't know until we search. Come along, Roll," Dr. Light said as he took the lead. 

"Aw, I got all upgraded for nothing," Roll said as she followed him.   


* * *

Mega Man and Link entered the rocky cavern where the thieves guild members resided, expecting to be met with hostile forces. After all, they were on the side of the good and noble and the thieves were on the side of the... not-so-good and less noble. However, no one seemed particularly interested in them at first. There was a table set up where four people were playing cards, a barrel of ale next to them. Two others were off in the corner by the quote-unquote beds talking and looking over a piece of paper. Another was sharpening his knife on a nearby grindstone, embers sparking off the wide, short blade. Once their eyes adjusted to the sunlight, however, they realized all were now staring at them. 

"Reminds me a little of the pub," Mega Man commented. 

"This ain't no pub," Link said. 

The man sharpening his knife stopped and sauntered over to the two. He was awkwardly lanky and had a weasely accent. "Well, i' looks like you two appear to be lost, li'l boys. We eat li'l boys 'ere, you know." 

"We're not little boys," Link said confidently, despite that he was a good deal shorter. 

"Don't you know where you are? You're in the bleedin' thieves guild headquarters, the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule." 

Link smirked. "My good sir, I know the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule. I've been in the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule. I've destroyed the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule. And this, sir, is not the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule." 

The tall thief threw back his head and laughed. "Hah, hah, hah. This kid's got guts after all." The other members laughed and guffawed in their own respective corners along with him. "I know you, all right. You're that Link fellow who 'saved' Hyrule. That true? They say you're the Hero of Cataclysm's Eve. The one who wielded the Master Sword." 

Link thought it best to avoid this line of questioning. "Look, we don't want any trouble," he said. "We just came here for some information." 

The gangly bandit rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, information, eh. Well, we're always lookin' to impart our knowledge onto the minds of those less fortunate. Right, boys?" The others grunted affirmatively. Mega Man doubted they were even listening to what's going on. "Yes, I believe we can stroike a bargain." 

Mega Man poked into the conversation. "Would sixty rupees be enough?" 

Link gave Mega Man a hateful, frustrated look as the bandit roared in laughter, throwing his mouth open wide with his hands on his hips. "Har, har, har, har, har! Who is this, your financial advisor? Har, har, har! Sixty? Try 600?" 

Link's eyes opened wide at this number. 

He continued. "And that's just the intr'duct'ry price. I don't even know wot you wanna know yet." 

Link whispered to Mega Man. "I only have 500 on me," he winced. Monsters were in short supply in this area and the economy was tight enough he wouldn't be able to borrow from anybody. He wasn't keen on the idea of going on a rupee hunt. 

"Uh, I'm a little short right now," Link grinned sheepishly. "Maybe we can work something out?" 

Mega Man said, "Perhaps we could arrange a line of credit." 

"Credit? Wot's credit?" 

"Well, it's-" 

"'Ow 'bout that fancy helmet on yer 'ead there," he pointed at Mega Man's head. "Look's like it'd fetch a fair bit o' wealth." 

The brigand, quick as a cat, filched the helmet off of Rock's head and placed it on his own. 

Mega Man reached up to his head, slightly embarrassed by his unruly helmet hair. "Hey, that's mine!" 

The robber turned around to his mates and began waddling around with Mega Man's bright blue helmet ridiculously clashing with his drab clothes. "'Ey, gents. Lookit me, I'm a captain of the royal guard." The others laughed at his antics. 

"Yoink!" Mega Man jumped up behind him and snatched the helmet back from him, placing it on his head. 

"'Ey, audacious li'l bugger." The man raised his hand to strike him. 

Link immediately stepped in, seeing that Mega Man was in trouble again, though not by his own doing this time. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." 

Mega Man held his hands out in a gesture of peace. "We didn't come here for trouble." 

"Well, you got trouble, blokes." He took a swing at Mega Man which he easily dodged. 

"That's it," the robot said. "You are under arrest for assault, burglary, and intent to commit these acts." Mega Man grabbed the man's hand and spun him around, bending him over forwards in a submitted position. He turned to his companion. "Link, do you have some rope?" 

Suddenly, a large rock bashed Mega Man in the head on the side, surprising him and causing him to lose his grip on his captor. "Aaah!" he said as he tumbled away. He felt the side of his head for damage. He looked up and saw one of the thieves standing on a rock ledge above them. 

"Boys, let's rumble," the lanky man redrew his sharpened knife and made for Mega Man. His knife was hit by a boomerang slicing through the air. He drew his hand back in pain and shock. 

Link caught the boomerang as hit came back to him. "That's not a knife, buddy." He withdrew his sword. "This is a knife." 

"That's a sword." 

"Close enough." Link lunged forward. All the thieves broke out of their stasis and jumped into the fracas, blocking Link off from Mega Man and his attackers. Link held up his shield to defend against their various weapons like knives, chains, and lead pipes. 

Mega Man found the cockney thief coming at him, fueled by his rage. "I'll do you a trick, mate." He tossed his knife from one hand to the other menacingly. 

"Your skills at magic will not stop me." Mega Man threatened. Of course, his reminder of the first law was running through his head. Although he couldn't attack, he could defend. And defend he did. As he brandished his knife, Mega Man parried his thrusts with his metal plated arms. The screeching, scraping of metal against metal echoed in the cavern; men winced from the sound. 

"Aaargh," the thief screamed in frustration. "Aren't you the fast one." 

"My reaction time is .02 seconds, thirty-five times more than a human. I am only slowed by my movement," he smiled. 

"Roit, whatever." 

Meanwhile, Link hunkered down under his shield while the guild members relentlessly pounded him, occasionally popping out to swing his sword at them. "Back off!" he shouted. Link fingered his boomerang again as blows rained down on him. Waiting for the right moment, he jumped out and threw it forward. It hit one swinging a chain in the head, stunning and throwing him back a bit. This would take forever, Link grumbled to himself, and his poor shield couldn't take this kind of abuse. Holding his sword behind him tighter, he concentrated, gathering up magic energy in the blade. A star-like sparkle scurried up the blade, sparking at the tip. The blade gleamed like ethereal silver with magic power. With an intense shout he spun around, holding out his sword. Magic energy billowed out in a whirlpool of force, blowing back everyone surrounding him, throwing them on their backs. 

Mega Man grappled with the lanky man, not applying lethal pressure to the man's arms, just holding them at bay. 

"Bloody... " he grumbled. "Marcus!" he shouted as he looked up. "Get down here and help!" 

Mega Man looked up and saw the man who had thrown the boulder earlier, getting his club out and preparing to jump down on top of him. The robot quickly moved his feet and pulled his opponent around so they switched places. Marcus came down on the thief's head, screaming bloody murder. Mega Man let go and the two collapsed on top of each other, both of them knocked out. 

Mega Man and Link looked around. The thieves were strewn about on the floor of the cavern. Mega Man dusted off his hands. "Well, it's just as good as an arrest." 

"Yeah, except now we've got no leads. We're stuck. I hate that." 

"Over here," came a meek, raspy voice from up above. 

The two looked around for the source of the voice. Link pointed up to a previously unseen alcove near the ceiling. "Up there." 

"I'm going to tie up these guys so they don't get away." 

Link was about to protest, but figured this was as good an opportunity as any to rid Hyrule of one of its cancers. He would let the nearest royal soldier know about the treasure of criminals here. 

He left Mega Man to find some rope and headed to the back of the room and up a ramp to a tiny little ledge. A wizened old man with white hair and a bald head covered in liver spots sat on a woven carpet. Some knick-knacks and a bookshelf were around him, making it seem like this was his room. Link had to crawl on hands and knees to enter the room proper. 

"You are the Hero of Cataclysm's Eve," the old man said, as if recognizing him or acknowledging him. "And you seek the pendants." 

A lead! He _was_ on the right track. "Yes, do you know where they are?" 

"Sure, they're right here." 

"...What?" 

The old man reached into a wicker jar beside him, opened the lid, and pulled them out. There they were, all three of them. A red, a green, and a blue medallion, carved with their respective crests, each attached to a small gold chain. 

"It's you ... who has the pendants? And you're giving them to me?" Link asked incredulously. Link thought he would have to quest through temples and worlds and gather items and defeat a final overlord, who was apparently this old geezer. "What? Why?" 

"To get you here. I needed the Hero of Cataclysm's Eve." 

"For what? How did you get the pendants in the first place?" Link couldn't for one second believe that this grandpa could've infiltrated the palace vault. 

"I'm old, but I'm quite powerful in the underworld. I have... connections." 

Link growled. If this decrepit old fogey could get a hold of the pendants, then security at the castle needed a major overhaul. He would have to let Zelda know when he returned. How safe could the Triforce be? "Do you know what you've done? Just to get me here?" 

"I've opened your eyes to the mirror." 

"The mirror?" Link couldn't take any of this pretentious existentialism. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't bring you in right now." 

"Because I have information. Information that is vital to the fate of Hyrule." 

Link didn't believe him for a second and glowered at him irritably. But, apparently, his quest was over so there was really no reason not to indulge him for a second. "Fine, what is it?" 

"The Triforce... has a fourth piece." 

"What?" Link didn't know whether to laugh or drop his jaw. "What do you mean there's a fourth piece?" 

"Just that. There are truly four pieces to the Triforce." 

"That's ridiculous. There's only three. That's why they call it a **TRI**force. Not a Quadforce." 

"There are only three that you know of." 

"There's courage, wisdom, and power. What's the fourth one supposed to represent? Cleanliness?" 

"Who knows? Serenity, strength, honor, endurance. The answer may be on this," he said as he produced a piece of cloth from another basket. "It was found in a treasure chest that wandered up on shore. Here, this shows the Triforce as one whole golden triangle." 

Link leaned closer to the outstretched cloth and looked. Sure enough, the sketching depicted four triangles of the Triforce coming together to form a whole, surrounded by runic markings that Link couldn't read. 

Looking up to the old man, he said, "Even if I believed you, what am I supposed to do with it?" 

"What else? Go find it." 

"What for? No one's using it." Initially, Link would have jumped at the chance for another adventure, especially after this one's anti-climax, but he could have plastered a wall with his skepticism. "If it's been lost for so long, no one knows where it is anyway, so why bother?" 

"But they will. Some day, some where, some time when you can't stop it. Think of what the Triforce can do now. Now think of what it can do when it is complete." 

Link stopped in his tracks. It was true. Some point in the future, the fourth piece would be found and who knows whose hands it would end up in. Despite his own misgivings, Link was going to have to research this for himself. It did seem like there was the Triforce was missing a piece in the middle, where another triangle could go. 

"Well, thanks for the info." _Not,_ Link thought. 

"One more thing," the old man interrupted. He produced from yet another basket a small copper mushroom. "This will aid you in your quest, I know." 

"Gee, thanks, you're just full of goodies, aren't you." Link took the mushroom and put it in his pouch. 

"Hurry, I sense that great danger is waiting to be unleashed." 

_Yeah, yeah, _Link thought, _what else is new._ Link stood up as well as he could and crawled back down to the cavern floor. Mega Man was tying up the last of the unconscious thugs and placing them against the wall. 

"Did he have anything useful?" he asked. 

"Well, yes and no. I've got the pendants back, but he said that there's a fourth piece of the Triforce." 

"What's a Triforce?" 

"It... it's complicated." Link didn't want to have to answer a lot of questions about Hylian mysticism and back story. "It's a holy artifact of Hyrule. Here's a picture." Link handed him the cloth. "I think it's bunk. He says that thing is supposed to be millennia old. And the story he gave me was ridiculous." 

Mega Man took a closer look using some of his visual receptor plug-ins. 

"I believe he's telling the truth," he said. "The carbon decay and degrade of the material and ink confirm that this was created about 80,000 years ago." 

"How do you know that?" 

"Primarily, my spectroanalyzer, but I have used some other optical examiners built in." 

Link didn't really know what all that meant, so he just shrugged it off and took back the cloth. Mega Man's verdict didn't add to the authenticity in his mind. "I can't believe he dragged me from place to place searching for the pendants, only to just give them to me, and tell me there's some fake Triforce piece out there." 

"The cloth is real though." 

"Oh, it's ridiculous to even think about," Link said as he marched out of the cavern. "If this Triforce piece has existed for so long then-" 

"NOW!" 

Suddenly, the two were covered in a rope net. "What th'-" Link exclaimed. The shock and weight knocked him down, trapping him tighter in. 

"Do it, Gus!" 

Just as Link was about to draw his sword and cut through the ropes a shining pink translucent glow surrounded them. The glow accumulated into a glass-like shield around them, solidifying with a metallic shink. 

Link cut through the net with his sword as Mega Man ripped it apart. Link thrust into the pink glass. Solid as a rock. He looked up to see who his captors were. Ungar, Gus, and a host of others from the Card Club Mafia, were standing around them, gloating. 

Ungar strutted up to their prison and peered in. "Nice magic barrier, don'tcha think?" he said as he tapped on the glass. "Good for keeping little rats in their cages." He came eye-to-eye with Link in a fearsome gaze. 

**Next Chapter: The Fight Scene**


	11. Chapter 11: The Fight Scene

_Chapter 11: The Fight Scene_

"There you are, my dear," Impa said as she turned down the bed. "Everything's ready for bed dear." 

Zelda peered down at the documents on her dresser. "I'm not ready for bed yet, Impa." 

"But dear, it's extremely late, you've been up trying to discover this mystery for hours. Maybe a fresh start is the thing you need," her caretaker said in a motherly tone. 

"Maybe, but I'm not ready to give up yet tonight," she said resolutely. "Thank you though, you can leave." 

Impa folded her hands, with a worried expression on her face. "Well, all right, you can blow the candles out when you're ready. Pleasant dreams, dear." 

"Good night, Impa." 

The corpulent housekeeper shuffled out of Zelda's room, sadly and quietly shutting the door behind her. Impa meant well, but she still thought of Zelda as a child. That irritated her to no end, but Impa had been with her all her life, so it was hard to get mad at her. Tonight, her mind was already in analyzing mode, and sleep would interrupt her thought flow. She walked over to her dresser and looked down at her three documents. These three, little documents that seemed like three pieces of a puzzle without a picture or the 997 other pieces. The first was a payroll account for the vizier for last year, combined with his listed expenses. Looking at it superficially, there was no discernable pattern, unless you combined the dates with the charges. Every two weeks, Noktwor withdrew no less than 50 rupees from his expense account. No charges in between that. Rather unusual behavior, but nothing incriminating, obviously. The only thing Zelda was suspicious of was if Noktwor was using the money for work-related activities and not skimming off the top. 

The second most important paper was the vizier's time-off sheet. This listed all his sick days and vacation days. Or rather the lack thereof. Despite all that had happened, the vizier had only taken one day off in the past 2 years. Even through the bout of Mountain Flu they had, the one where _everyone_ was sick, the vizier had always shown up to the palace on time and well. Again, not really incriminating, but still suspicious. 

But the third document was the most important. It was a carbon copy of a letter to the mayor of Kakariko village. Basically, it was a request to have a shipment of weapons, mostly spears, to be taken from the city's armory stockpile and delivered to the palace. Now, the royal palace had the right to take supplies from its smaller principalities, as long as they paid a fair price for them. But as far as she knew, the palace was in no shortage of weapons, if not spears and polearms. Plus, they were in peacetime, and no threats loomed on the horizon, so stockpiling arms seemed unusual. But the most leery element was the tone of the letter. Counselor Noktwor seemed threatening and condescending to the mayor, and also indicated that this wasn't the first time he had made this request. Such conduct was unbecoming one of her advisors she kept in trust. 

But the frustrating part of it was these three documents didn't make sense together. Zelda picked up her hairbrush and turned away from the dresser. As she ran the comb through her hair she wished there was some guide she could use to tell how they might be connected or even if they were connected at all. Something that told her 'you need these seven pieces in order to solve the mystery'. Pacing along the floor, brushing her hair, she tried to connect the pieces. Maybe the vizier was trying to sell the weapons on the black market. The lack of vacation time indicated that maybe it was something he needed to be here everyday for. The organized crime syndicates in Hyrule were ruthless - miss a shipment, miss a finger. And there would be no one in the castle he could trust to carry out in his possible absence. Maybe a good way to see would be to send him out on a liaison mission. That did not explain the expense account though. Of course that could have been nothing. 

A knock sounded on her door. Probably Impa again. "Come in." 

Counselor Noktwor opened the door and entered the room, dressed in his formal clothing. Zelda was quite surprised and a little scared. "Princess, I apologize for the lateness of this visit." 

"Is it important?" 

"Extremely." He meandered forward, closing the distance between them. Zelda suddenly felt very vulnerable in just her nightgown. "It has come to my attention that you have been investigating the disappearance of the pendants as well as my collection of investigators." 

"Yes," she tried to blurt out confidently. 

"My advice is for you to drop it. My team will uncover the pilferer. And you are delving into things that are better left undelved." He closed the gap completely, coming nose-to-nose with her. His intimidating height left Zelda forced to look up at him. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stop it. Do I make myself clear, Princess?" 

"Clear." 

"Good then. Enjoy your sleep, Princess." The counselor spun on his heel and vacated Zelda's bedchamber, shutting the door behind him. 

Zelda stood there, feeling very cold and weak. Somehow the gaze from that man left a chilling tremor up her spine. Her only response was to tuck under the covers of her bed and douse the light, snuggling deep under her covers. She really wished Link was here right now.   


* * *

Mega Man perched on hands and knees close to the edge of the magic barrier, trying to analyze it. Link opted to sit back against it, biding his time until an appropriate moment to strike arose. Until then, he was gonna take this opportunity to rest. The thugs were plotting in a corner about what to do with them. They had taken the pair to a nearby ravine, somewhere between where the desert started and the plains ended, as they could see patches of grass poking through the sandy drifts. A charred fire pit was set in the middle, indicating this was some sort of secondary hideout for them, and that they weren't going anywhere for a while. 

Mega Man turned back to Link. "Are they going to try and kill us?" he asked. 

"Don't know. Kill us, hold us for ransom, eat us." 

"Eat us!" 

Link laughed to himself at his little joke. "No, they won't eat us. I don't know what they're going to do with us." Link wasn't particularly worried. After taking on the black wizard Ganon, a band of thieves was a minor inconvenience. Plus he already had the pendants, he just needed to deliver them back to the castle. "Did you learn anything from your topical sensors?" 

"My what?" 

"You know, your specko-analyzer." 

"Oh, no. This material doesn't seem to register on my scanners. It's like it's not there, or it's not made of anything. In fact, the only way I can tell it _is_ there is by touch or normal sensors. What is this composition?" 

Link shrugged. "I don't know. It's magic. It's a magic barrier. I can see it just fine." 

"It's not magic. Magic doesn't exist." 

Link wasn't sure whether to laugh or be insulted. His homeland was founded on magic. It was one of the cornerstones of their existence. "I've got a bag full of magic powder that'll disagree with you." 

"Magic is either a clever illusion or science that hasn't been understood yet." 

Link shrugged. "Well, I understand that it works for me. Maybe you can't see the magic because you haven't been trained to look for it." 

"I don't see how that's possible." 

"Well, that's magic." 

Link wrapped it up as one of unctuous mafioso came up to the trapped duo. He had a greasy goatee and a sash holding a sword at his very round waist. "What's your deal?" he asked Mega Man. 

"I don't understand the question." 

Two others came up behind him, trying to add to the intimidation. "What are you? Are you even human? You're obviously not from around here and you're not a monster." 

"My body is composed of a mechanical and electrical device that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts of a human being, being computationally programmed through use of circuits and wiring to automatically perform complicated tasks." 

"All right then... jus' wot does that mean?" 

"Ah, who cares. Just tear off that armor of his, Rono." 

"No, you fool, 'e 'as the strength of ten men!" 

"All the more reason to get that armor." 

"Get that cannon on his arm too. Could be useful." 

Mega Man instinctively covered up his arm cannon. 

Rono, the beefy leader scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Listen up, punk," he said to Mega Man. "You're gonna do as we say, or else your friend Link is gonna get it." 

Oh, no. They had him. Mega Man couldn't allow another human being to come to harm like this, but he also couldn't disassemble himself. It was his worst nightmare - a conflict of the laws of robotics. Other machines and androids had completely lost their programming cohesion over such conflicts and had to be destroyed. "I can't take this off. It's me." 

"Gus!" Rono snapped and pointed at the barrier. Gus waved his hands and the cherry barricade disappeared. Immediately, another brute grabbed Link by the collar, dragging him up, and held a knife to his neck. 

"*Grrck* Don't do it, Mega Man," Link murmured. 

Mega Man could feel conflict bubbling in his brain. His thought processes were getting jumbled and confused, commands running into each other. "You don't understand. I can't just take it off. It's a part of me," he pleaded. "I can't self-disassemble." 

"Then I can do it for you," he said as he withdrew a long saber. 

"Hey, what's that?" someone from the back yelped out. 

Everyone turned and saw a little buzzblob waddling into the ravine, wide black eyes looking around curiously. "Wot th'?" 

"Cute little bugger." Gus said. "Hey, little guy." He reached down to pet him. 

The buzzblob furrowed its eyes angrily and sent a huge jolt of electricity into his body. "AaAaAaAaAaAaA!" he screamed and flew back several feet, smoke coming off his crispy head. 

Link seized the opportunity and elbowed his captor in the stomach. He let his grip on the knife relax, as Link spun around and flipped him over his shoulder, rendering him unconscious. Withdrawing his sword he said, "What's the matter? Never seen a buzzblob before?" 

"Get him!" 

A rush of mobsters came at Link. Using his free hand and inertia he scaled the wall a short distance and came crashing down on the onslaught. He picked out his boomerang and slung it at the nearest one, knocking him out. Another to his right came at him with a billy club. He dodged the first two downward thrusts and parried with his sword. He noticed another slinking up behind him. Link quickly lunged forward, hitting the one ahead of him with his sword-filled fist and kicking the other in the stomach with his boot. 

Meanwhile, Mega Man had dashed out of the range of the melee at the other end of the ravine. The buzzblob wobbled over to him, with a seemingly gleeful expression on his face. "Aah, go away. No, you hurt me," he said, shooing his arms. The buzzblob continued coming. Mega Man climbed a waist-high outcropping of grassy ledge to escape. 

The rotund Rono came towards him, swinging his saber wildly. "I'll have your goods one way or the other. No one gets away from the Card Club." 

Mega Man, desperate for an escape tactic, looked down at the buzzblob with puppy dog eyes, who was soulfully trying to totter to him. 

He sat one knee on the ground and looked at the little green monster. "Hey, you wanna help?" he said, tapping into what he might say to Rush. 

The blob blinked. Assumably that meant yes. 

"Okay, then, go get him," he said as he pointed to the Don. "Sic him, boy!" 

The buzzblob slowly toddled towards the mafioso. He easily backed away and took out a throwing knife to do away with him. "Your little pet won't do any harm to me." 

Mega Man saw this and quickly thought of a plan. He switched his weapon system from default to Thunder Beam. His blue color faded to olive and yellow, and his Mega Buster's inner circuitry shifted around quietly. He pointed at the buzzblob. "Hope this works." He fired and three arcs of electricity soared into the sky, into the ground, and forward. 

The beam hit the buzzblob, causing a yellow electric aura to glow around him with a mechanical sizzle. Its eyes shot open from surprise and shock. After the initial blast, it seemed to recover with no harm done and sternly looked at the beefy threatener. Rearing its head back he whipped forward and shot a burst of lightning at him. 

The man dropped his weapons and froze in his tracks as white tendrils of power danced over his body. The green monster stopped the attack, leaving him cross-eyed and smoking, black soot covering his face as he swayed back and forth. 

"Errr... check, please," he said as he tumbled backwards, fainted. 

Link defended himself as best he could. They were starting to become too much for him. Each knick and pot-shot in his side was starting to make him succumb to weariness even more. He felt his back touch the craggy cliff wall and swung his sword in a desperate measure to make them back off. 

"Hey, Link!" Mega Man called out as he made a 'come here' motion with his hand. "Draw them over here." 

Link couldn't see what he was planning over their heads, and didn't know how he expected to wade through this crowd. Gripping onto determination and his boomerang he slung it out blindly, pushed off the wall, and used his shield to block for him as he barreled through the mob like a bullet, screaming at the top of his lungs. 

The mafia gave way and Link found Mega Man standing on a ledge with the buzzblob in front of him. "Get behind me," the robot shouted. 

Link, using his forward momentum, jumped up and flipped over the buzzblob and Mega Man, landing on the ledge behind them. The thieves and thugs tore after them. 

Mega Man held up his arm cannon and aimed it at the buzzblob. "You'll get a charge out of this," he said as he fired. 

The buzzblob cheerfully absorbed the electricity, gathering it with his own and fiercely fired it out at the crowd just as they approached. The light around them flashed like a light bulb and they all collapsed on top of each other, wisps of smoke billowing up. They were all out cold or groaning from immobility. 

"Now that's playing with power," the blue bomber said. 

"Shocking," Link responded.   


* * *

"Roll, I need your assistance," Dr. Light said. Roll noticed Dr. Light struggling with a piece of scaffolding. She quickly rushed over and picked it up for him. Dr. Light gave his best effort to help, even though it was barely needed. 

"You should be resting, Dr. Light," she chided. "The police department will be here shortly. They can conduct a full search then." 

"I couldn't possibly rest, until I find out what Dr. Wily was searching for." He looked where the boulder was. Nothing but pebbles. He sighed. 

"There's got to be an easier way about this. Perhaps there is a pattern." 

"All right," Roll set herself to thinking. "So far the rooms where we've not seen damage have been industrial - the labs, the laundromat, the bathrooms." 

"Ah, but not the master bathroom. We know that was searched." 

"But not destroyed." 

"Hmm..." Dr. Light thought. "Then they've all been rooms where humans go. Wily didn't want any of my technology I was building." He stepped over a broken girder as he mulled through the path of destruction. "Most curious. Although I suppose we can rest easy, knowing none of my technical secrets have fallen into his hands." He stopped in his tracks. "Wait, that doesn't make sense. What could I possibly own of greater value than my technical secrets?" 

"Even if what he wanted wasn't technology, why wouldn't he even make an effort to try and get some?" 

"Ah, never underestimate the unstable mind. Trying to track its logic is like trying to track the flight path of a house fly." Dr. Wily was an interesting paradox indeed - a man of mechanics and logic, yet crazy as a loon. How he made his genius creations was beyond anything he could understand. 

"But you have many human items in storage. Surely he would have gone down there, if he was searching for it," Roll continued. "But he didn't. Which means-" 

"Which means he may have found it before he got that far. It must have been up here somewhere. Perhaps on display. Perhaps-" He gripped onto a side of wall that gave way in his hands. A low rumbling sounded for a split second and suddenly the ceiling above rained down debris. 

"Dr. Light!" Roll started to run for him, but was cut off by a huge chunk of scaffold. Dust spurted up, obscuring her view. 

"Dr. Light!" 

**Next Chapter: Medical Emergency**


	12. Chapter 12: Medical Emergency

_Chapter 12: Medical Emergency_

Roll sprinted through the house at breakneck speeds, twisting in and out of broken corridors, trying to get through to the outside to find where the police were. Dr. Light was trapped under the ceiling fall, still conscious, but bleeding. Where were those police? They should have been here by now. 

She skidded to a stop before the security server room, which was upstairs. "Damn," she muttered. The stairs were out and she would have to walk all the way around to find an alternative route. There was no time for that. She pulled out her laser gun, the green visor automatically slid in place, and fired two shots at the ceiling. The floor collapsed in front of her. Jumping up on the rubble she hoisted herself up to the second floor, right in front of the security room. The grid of closed-circuit cameras and a large blinking computer in the wall were overseeing the grounds. According to the monitors, about eight police cars and two fire trucks were wailing outside the gate. Their occupants were just standing there, talking to themselves. 

Roll picked up the speakerphone and clicked 'gate'. "Hey, get in here! We need medical attention!" 

On the monitor, a cop jogged over to the gate and pushed the intercom button. "We'd like to but the security protocol is still up." 

_Damn_, Roll thought, _ it was_. Searching through the control panel she looked for the disabling mechanism. The outside grounds' security must have been activated when Wily burst in. It was meant for small intruders, not large hulking robots. The laser and motion sensors would instantly disable any police that tried to walk on. 

She looked up at the computer. All the buttons and switches and not one label. Dr. Light never told her how to work the security program, it was all automated. "Computer, are you voice-activated?" 

No response. Apparently not. She started flipping switches, turning some up and some down. The monitors flickered out. She flipped that switch back on. A warning on the outside camera flashed "Security disabled - perimeter." 

Roll came back to the microphone. "It's off. Get in here." 

The police sent one lone cop towards the house, apparently as a scout. He huffled in and entered the torn away wall that used to be the entrance foyer. He waved to his partners and the collection of EMT's ran in. Roll dropped the microphone and headed over to the foyer. Jumping down into the hole she had created, she sped down the hallway towards the front of the house and nearly ran into a firefighter. 

"You. What happened here?" she said. 

"Not important. Need assistance for Dr. Light. Follow me." 

The firefighter called back to the others. "Charlie, get the parameds in here!" She followed after Roll. 

Roll hurdled debris easily. The humans and helper robots climbed over it, not having her agility, but they still managed to keep up. They found Roll standing over a pile of rocks and wood like a loyal retriever. 

"Aw, jeez," the firefighter said. "Get the shovelers out here now." The ones who had made it to the scene started pulling off wreckage as fast as they could. "Get this stuff off him." Roll helped as much as she could, but she still didn't have as much strength as she ought to for a battle robot. An EMT came in holding two small robots with shovels attached to their face. He set them down on each side of the pile and they began digging up rocks at the foundation, making it easier for those who were pulling off the top. Roll pulled off a piece of tile and found the right breast pocket of his lab coat. 

"I see him!" 

"Put your backs into it." The paramedics and firefighters started pulling faster, knowing the finish line was there. "Get that stretcher ready." 

They pulled off the last of the ruins and brushed off the dust. "Dr. Light, can you hear me?" Roll said. 

A paramedic came in with an electronic med-box. "Clear out." He ran a pull-out scanner over Dr. Light while looking at the readings on the box. "Slight internal bleeding. Broken femur and tibia. Ribs... Heart looks good." He looked up to the other medics. "He's stable but hurting. We can move him." 

"Let's get him out of here." 

The medics pulled lifted him up and put him on the hoverbed next to the ground as gingerly and quickly as possible. 

"Uhhh..." Dr. Light moaned. 

"Doctor, can you hear me?" Roll said, gleeful that he had the ability to still speak. 

"Roll... I'm okay. Sort of," he groaned raspily as they pushed him out of the house. 

"It's okay, Dr. Light. I'm right here. I'm going with you." 

"No, don't. Roll... you need to stay here and search." 

"But-" 

"That object was here. You must find it. If it was more valuable than my technical secrets or his revenge... who knows what danger we may be in." 

Roll followed him until they reached the ambulance. They lifted him into the vehicle while Roll waited at the entrance, bound by her programming to follow his orders. 

"But... all right, doctor. I'll find it." 

"Find it. And find your brother. Don't worry about me." 

"I will." 

The EMT's closed the doors, the sirens started their wailing and the ambulance sped out. If Roll were human she would have been crying.   


* * *

Mega Man and Link crawled over the grassy knoll and saw the castle in the mist. 

"There it is. Hyrule Castle. The center of Hyrule." 

Mega Man had never seen a real castle before - one with medieval architecture, made of mortar and stone. It seemed authentic, as if real and a picture at the same time. A reinforced off-white wall surrounded the castle itself, with guards posted at central locations. He could see a beautiful courtyard from this distance, filled with trees and other greenery. In the center was a path leading from the entrance down to wooden gate and melding seamlessly across the river to form a bridge. It seemed very inviting and friendly, not like the castles he'd read about, with cold stone walls with guards, cannons, and drawbridges, designed to keep any and all intruders as far away as possible. 

"It looks beautiful," Mega Man said. 

"It is." Link had found a new pride in the royal castle, since he had been to the Dark World and found its equivalent to be a soulless golden pyramid where the Triforce was housed. "We'll rest here a bit." Link took a seat under the shade of a thick oak tree and took a deep breath. Resting was definitely a perk on a quest and he intended to use it whenever possible. There wasn't any need to be in the castle right now. 

"So, we've got the finest mages and seers in the castle. They'll probably be able to get you home," he said as he plucked up some grass and threw it around idly. 

"I hope so, but I have my doubts. How I got here seems to be beyond human comprehension. It may have been a fluke in mathematics that can never be repeated." Mega Man doubted that the underdeveloped people here would ever be able to get him home. He was brought here by science. What hope did a people who still believed in magic have of being able to recreate the same instance when even humans from his world wouldn't understand it. If they knew he was here. By now, Light's mansion was likely destroyed and everyone was dead. Without him around to save them, Wily would likely have taken over the world by now. That was only if time was still going in his world the same as it was in this. For all he knew, time was going backwards since he left. 

"Well," Link responded. "What will you do if you can't get back?" 

"Unknown. It appears your justice system could need some revising." 

Link laughed. "Yeah, you'd be good at that. A nigh invulnerable captain of the guards. Horace would be happy to have you replace him." Link picked up some more grass blades and started chewing them. "So what's it like there?" 

"There are many tall buildings, commercial centers. Other robots keep the streets clean, buildings repaired, transportation running smoothly. It is essentially a utopia. Humans are happy. I would think, though, that you would find it too busy, fast, and crowded for your liking." 

"Perhaps," Link said as he tried to picture it. He imagined tall castles with spires next to each other. "I wonder how many other worlds there are out there. Like, what's beyond Hyrule. The mountains border us to the north, plateaus to the south and east and dense forest in the west. We're pretty secluded in here." 

Mega Man nodded. "World travel is common where I come from. People can jump from one side of the world to another in an instant." 

"Wow, I've lived in Hyrule all my life. I can't imagine what else could... be..." Link became distracted by something down the hill on the other side. Mega Man looked down and saw the buzzblob waddling up the hill with wide coal-black eyes. 

"Aw, come on. Go away already!" Link said as he stood up angrily. "Shoo! I thought we lost you at the river." 

The buzzblob just kept on coming up, as if he didn't understand them. It had been following them since the ravine, despite numerous attempts to try and lose it. 

"Well, he did help us with the Card Club." 

"Oh, he's just attracted to you. Cause you got that lightning gun." 

"Don't hurt him. He's just lost." 

Link rolled his eyes at Mega Man's compassion for a monster. Even if it was sort of cute. "Okay, you. Go... that way. Over there. Go. Now. Shoo." 

"Come here, little guy. Come here," Mega Man said as he slowly advanced down the hill to it. 

"You're not helping." 

The buzzblob cheerfully wobbled up to Mega Man. He held out his hand like he would for a dog to sniff it. The buzzblob cautiously looked at the hand and nuzzled it with the top of his head. Mega Man was surprised when he didn't feel a sharp painful jolt. "Hey, it's all right. It looks like the shock is just a natural defense mechanism." 

"Great," Link said from the top of the hill. "You wanna take him home with you?" 

"Well, it would be a shame to lose such a good helper." He picked up the buzzblob like a baby and carried him over to Link. 

"Oh, you are not carrying it like that." 

"Isn't he cute?" Mega Man held the green blobby thing up to Link like a child. 

Link rolled his eyes. "Fine. But how are we gonna get him inside the castle. The guards will snipe him with an arrow once they see him. And they have good eyesight." 

"Hmm," Mega Man pondered as he put it down. Mega Man couldn't let this monster be taken out when it had done so much good for them. "I have an idea. Do you have any extra clothes?"   


* * *

The tower guard swept over the breadth of the castle with his telescope, watching the backs of other guards posted around the outside walls, milling about. It was a slow day, but then every day was a slow day. Bright blue painted the skies, songs of idle birds in the forest, same as any other day. The most fun was when a crow would suicidally decide to breach the castle walls. Then the lucky one would get to shoot it down with his crossbow and they would all talk about it for weeks, building it up until the crow had posed the most dangerous threat to Hylian walls since Agahnim. 

The guard took the telescope from his eye and perused the grounds with his naked eyes. Just as little happened up close as far away. Oak trees and hills obscured the grounds in front of the castle beyond the river. He sighed and looked up at the sky, watching a cloud pass by. Peaceful, natural, and the same thing he'd seen for the past eight years. As he cracked his stiff neck he suddenly saw a speck approaching the castle, just emerged from the trees. He fumbled with his scope for a bit, off-put from the excitement and looked down below. 

It appeared to be Link coming towards the castle, recognized by his green tunic, along with a... young-looking palace soldier dressed in blue full-body armor? With a helmet? And between them was... a very small person wearing Link's shirt and hat? They were holding hands with him, but it looked like his arms weren't big enough to reach the ends of the floppy sleeves. 

"Ahoy! Who goes there?" the guard called out once they trio had reached shouting distance. 

"It's me, Link!" 

"And what company do you keep?" 

"He means who are you with," Link said to Mega Man, rolling his eyes at the guard's penchant for taking his job too seriously. He shouted back up as he stopped at the wooden gate. "This is Mega Man, he is from another island very far away and we need help to get him back home." 

"And who's that betwixt you?" 

"This? Ah... this is my... friend! Buzzy!" 

"Buzzy?" 

"Yes, Buzzy." 

The guard tried hard to look at Buzzy's face, but the hat was covering him up completely. How was he able to see? "Are you sure? He seems awfully small." 

"Uhhhh..." Link stalled again. "He's been sick." 

"Oh... All right then," the guard said. He was still a little suspicious, but Link could be trusted. "Raise the gate," he called down to the guards in the courtyard. They began turning the crank, making a clickety-clack sound as the wooden door was raised. The three started walking under the archway. 

"'Buzzy'?" Mega Man asked as they walked in. 

"I didn't see you coming up with anything," Link said in jest. 

**Next Chapter: Meeting New People**


	13. Chapter 13: Meeting New People

_Chapter 13: Meeting New People_

"Hullo?" Link called out at the palace foyer. "Anyone home?" 

Mega Man looked around with wide-eyed curiosity. The walls were painted in a rich pale gold. The introductory walkway was carpeted with a lush velvet tapestry, lined with ornate gold lame markings. The floor itself was a sapphire-blue painted stone that looked as smooth as ice. Several statues stood at attention as they paced down the carpet, depicting brave knights, perhaps those who died in service. The walkway led them into a grand hall, decorated with even more statues and peculiar gray cauldrons situated before the entrance stairs. The humanness of it was astonishing. 

"Come on, let's go up," Link said. 

"This is amazing," Mega Man said as he spun around, trying to take it all in. The crystal chandelier at the ceiling caught his eye and he cranked his neck to study it. "It's so vast and uncluttered. There's so much aestheticism." 

"Thanks... I think." Link worried if Mega Man was going to run into something while looking at the ceiling. 

They pounded up the stairs and into the middle of a second floor corridor, decorated with the same walls and floor covering. 

"Link!" a voice came from down the hall. 

A woman with pretty blond hair and a blue and white dress came running down at them, her skirt picked up to avoid tripping. She collided with Link in a great big hug. 

"Oh, it's so good to see you." 

Link returned the hug. "Same with you, Princess." 

She pulled back, with her hands still on Link's shoulders. "You're safe and sound. How goes the quest." 

"I found them." 

Zelda raised her eyebrow. "You found them already?" she said in a less delicate voice. 

Link reached in the knapsack and pulled out the three pendants. "All here, safe and sound." He handed them to her. 

"Wow, that was fast." 

"I know. Surprised me too." 

"They're not fakes, are they?" 

"No, I doubt it. I'll tell you about it later." 

Zelda put the medallions in a pouch in her dress. "I'll have to keep these safe before we can have the vault overhauled." 

"You haven't found the culprit yet?" 

Zelda hung her head. "No, not quite. We have some suspicions though. We know it was an inside job." 

"I was just about to say that. It's someone inside the castle. Someone who had access to the vault and someone who has connections with the thieves guild. Other than that I don't know who it could be." 

"I might now, but I'll tell you later." 

"Well, we don't need to worry now." Link turned to his side. "This is..." Link looked and saw Mega Man inspecting a potted plant. "This is Mega Man." 

"What?" Mega Man suddenly jumped up upon hearing his name. "Oh, sorry." He came over and took Princess Zelda's hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he said as he shook. 

Zelda liked this gesture. She was used to having her hand kissed and bowed down before. This was being treated as a normal person. 

"Likewise," she said as she felt the coldness of his skin through her glove. "Are you..." 

"This is the man of metal with the arm of light, apparently," Link added. 

"Ah, I see. You must have been a great help to Link." 

"I tried my best, though your customs and ways have me confused sometimes." 

Link added. "He's from another world, as well. Somewhere way beyond Hylian territory." 

"Oh, I see, well, you certainly know your manners for being from another world." 

"I'm used to dealing with foreign dignitaries wishing to congratulate me on my achievements. Even though such praise is not necessary." 

"And who is this?" Zelda let go of Mega Man's hand to look at the short fellow wearing a tunic and hat like Link's. "Who's this little guy?" 

"Ah, Princess..." Link started to warn. 

Zelda took the hat off and found a wiggly green face looking up at her. 

"EEEK!" she shrieked as she stumbled back about ten feet. "What is that?" 

"He's... Buzzy," Link sighed. "Don't worry. He only attacks when threatened." 

"He attacks? He can't be here in the palace!" 

"It's all right," Mega Man said. "I'll vouch for his character." 

_Character?_ Link thought. 

"Well, if you say so... I was wondering where your hat went, Link," Zelda said as she replaced it atop his head. 

"I knew it, I knew it!" someone coming from around the corner said. The Seer scuffled out down the hallway as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Aha, yes, yes, here he is. Yes, the man of metal. Oh, yes. Most exciting." The wizened little man came toe-to-toe with Mega Man, looking him right in the eye. Mega Man leaned back in surprise. The Seer ran his hand up and down Mega Man's arm. "Yesss, yesss." 

"Hey, hey, I don't think that's appropriate," Mega Man said. 

"How did you know he was here?" Zelda said. 

"I'm a Seer. Of course I knew he was here. Yes, you are from another world, aren't you," he said as he tapped Mega Man's head. "I have many questions to ask you." 

"And I have many to ask you. It's essential that I get back to my world as soon as possible." 

"Ahh, perhaps we can help each other then. Yes, yes, always a good thing when both sides win." The Seer put a hand on Mega Man's back and started leading him down the hall. 

"Hold it a second," Link said. The two stopped in their tracks. Link pulled out the cloth from his knapsack. "I need you to tell me whether this is authentic or not. I don't think it is, but just in case. It's not a priority though. Just get him home," he said as he looked up at Mega Man. He smiled warmly. 

The Seer adjusted his spectacles and looked at the fabric Link was holding out. For once in his life he was speechless. The others could practically see question marks coming out of his head. 

"What th'?" He promptly took it. "This will require investigation. Much intriguement. Thank you, Link. I'll do as you say. Yes, yes. Come, come, there is much to discuss. The discussion... there will be... much... of..." 

Zelda turned back to Link. "Listen, Link, I think that-" she stopped, looking around the hall for any occupants that might overhear her. "I think the culprit might be Advisor Noktwor." 

"Nok-" he stopped himself before he said it aloud. "Really?" 

"I haven't been able to gather the evidence yet, but he's my number one suspect. What's more, he told me I should stop investigating if I knew what was good for me." 

"He did what?" Link said in a low voice and instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword. 

"He said I was delving into things better left undelved." 

Link gritted his teeth angrily. Nothing irked him more than someone who betrayed his trust. And even more irksome were those who put threats on others' life. The unmitigated gall of Noktwor was through the roof. 

"We can't let it worry us, though," Zelda said kindly. "The pendants are back. That's the important thing. Dinner will be served shortly," Zelda grabbed Link by the hand. "Come on, I want you to tell me all about your adventures." 

Link relaxed a bit as he let Zelda's hand lead her around the palace.   


* * *

Link dug into his steak of tartare like there was no tomorrow. He had been living on dry bread and apples for much of his quest, and though it was a nice change from palace food, there was no comparison. The meat was juicy and tender and the garlic mashed potatoes next to it were to die for. Zelda watched with amusement, as this was Link's ritual whenever he came back from an outing. 

The table was made of a deep cherry hardwood and had a beautiful flamboyant candelabra as its centerpiece. The back wall had a tapestry overhang with the royal insignia etched on it, behind where the king sat. Two doors were carved out in this wall as well, one for each side. Mega Man rested idly at his place opposite Link, with a steaming slab of meat in front of him, watching the other patrons and members of the royal family. Zelda sat with her father, the king, who wore his place in the world well. He was quite fat and his green robe did little to hide it. His great white beard emphasized his size. He seemed quite kind though. 

"Why, Mr. Man, is there something wrong with your steak?" he asked as he sipped from a goblet of wine. 

Mega Man responded, "I'm sure there isn't. I simply don't eat." 

"Why, Romani steak is one of the finest meals Hyrule has to offer. Please you must at least try the mashed potatoes. They've been picked from the royal garden just today." 

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't eat this. I wasn't designed to eat." 

"I see." The king clapped his hands loudly twice, summoning a servant. "Have the kitchen prepare this boy a plate of steamed vegetables. Apparently, he has a sensitive stomach and can't eat hearty food." 

The servant bowed and left straight away. 

Mega Man started, "Uh, actually, I meant-" 

"So Mr. Man, do all the people from your island have such interesting dietary habits?" 

"Uh, well, not all-" 

"It must be quite warlike over there, if you need to wear such tough armor all the time. The monsters must be terrifying." 

"Well, we don't have-" 

"I say, I should like to open up talks with the people from your land. If we can find a solid trade route I believe it would be a windfall to both our countries. When you get back can you ask your emissaries to send some representatives over here?" 

"Uh, I don't think that'll be possible. I'm not sure how I got here myself." 

The king laughed uproariously. "You don't know how you got here? How humorous. Tell me, what would you say your biggest economic boon is?" 

"Robotics." 

"Robotics? What are those? A sort of farming method?" 

"Well, robots are used for farming, but they're used for much more than that. They're also used for garbage collecting, construction, defense, teaching, law-keeping, medical needs, accounting, emergency relief-" 

"That's all nice. How many rupees would a robotic cost perhaps?" 

"Rupees? I don't know what the conversion rate is." 

"You don't use rupees as currency? What on earth could be as valuable as rupees?" 

"Ah, father," Zelda interrupted, "Maybe all the details of Mega Man's origins are better left for... for when their emissaries get here." She wanted to avoid as many weird questions as possible, in fear that it might expose Mega Man to danger. 

"Nonsense, daughter. Now would you say your government would prefer a bilateral reciprocal agreement or a regional trade assignment with tariff barriers. I'm personally open to both." 

"Uh, even if trade were possible, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question." 

"Father, please, he's had a very rough trip, he's new here, he's not ready to discuss trade agreements. Besides, we're still rebuilding the economy since Agahnim." 

The Seer chose that moment to come into the room and interrupt. He looked alert and excited as he approached the blue bomber. "Mega Man, I've found something interesting that you must see right away." 

"Concerning my transport?" 

"In a sense." 

"Excuse me, please. I enjoyed talking to you." Mega Man said as he shoved back from the table and followed the Seer out. Silently he was thanking the Seer for getting him out of there. 

"Well, they know their manners where he comes from," the king said. 

"Yes, that's what I said," Zelda agreed. 

Link popped the last of his steak in his mouth. "Zelda, what about the moblins?" 

"The moblins?" 

"Have they stopped attacking the village?" 

"Reports have been scant lately. I think they might have eased off somewhat. I've only gotten one formal report of a moblin sighting in the forest. That person ran away before he could get attacked." 

"Interesting. I wonder if the two were related - the pendants and the moblin attacks." 

"Why would they be? They're just monsters." 

Link rubbed his temple thoughtfully. "They're not monsters. At least that's not how they behaved. They had spears, they had armor, they were organized when they attacked. I wonder if they have something behind them. Some leader." 

"What would that have to do with the pendants?" 

"I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud." Link hoisted himself up from the table. "I think I'll retire for the rest of the night. Thank your cooks for dinner for me." 

The king and Zelda nodded in acknowledgment as Link exited the room through the door on the right. The dinner room hung in silence for a while. Zelda picked at her food with her fork. The king looked up at the ceiling, pretending to study the ceiling painting. 

"So..." he finally broke the silence as he looked opposite from himself. "What's your story?" 

The buzzblob at the end of the table perked up its head and blinked. 

**Next Chapter: Talk to Everyone**


	14. Chapter 14: Talk to Everyone

_Chapter 14: Talk to Everyone_

Roll cantered back into the house after making her report to the police. Digger robots were milling about at her feet trying to clean up the rubble and debris. No humans were in the house anymore. They had taken all the pictures of the damage and reported on all the city-made repairs that would be needed, such as water leakage and construct stability. Since no humans were living in the house though, Roll could stay there indefinitely. Later when Dr. Light was well, they could discuss rebuilding the house, but until that time, she had two priorities to take care of - find Rock and find whatever it was Dr. Wily was looking for. Rock was the priority right now, since she was still trying to figure out how to find something that wouldn't be there. She feared it would be a lost cause, but since the diggers and mettools were cleaning up the place, she had no other duties to perform. She had express orders from Dr. Light to get the job done. 

As she traveled back up to the security room the first thing she tried was using her internal communicator again. This was the same comm device they could use to call out to any normal telephone, except it could connect to Mega Man directly since they both had the same protocol. Like all the other times, though, it garnered no response. His comm device was down or he was out of range or in a place that interfered with a signal. She now feared getting 'could not connect' messages every time. 

She made it back into the security room and toggled the monitors. Switching frequently from channel to channel she scoured the breadth of the mansion looking for any sign of him. Any sign of life at all, in fact. Half the channels were just showing static, though, making a search nearly obsolete. As she flipped back and forth through camera angles, she couldn't help but wonder where he had gone to. Maybe Mega Man was the thing Dr. Wily was looking for. A valid theory, but nearly impossible. Mega Man would never allow himself to be taken captive. Besides, Wily's objective would be to destroy Mega Man, not capture him or enslave him. He had already proven resistant to reprogramming, so that wouldn't work. He couldn't be coerced into doing something or that would conflict with the Robotic Laws and render him useless. So Dr. Wily wasn't looking for Mega Man when he came in here. 

With none of her questions answered by the cameras, she exited the security room and headed downstairs. He wasn't in the house. He may have been under it. Not under a collapsed part, he could easily break free of that. 

Roll's mind suddenly jumped back to seeing Dr. Light under the ceiling as it rained down on him, watching his terrified face as he put his hands up to stop the crushing blows. 

No, she couldn't think about that right now. She had to perform these duties. If for nothing else than to distract her from the worry and thought that was recurring in her mind. 

She mulled over other possibilities. Mega Man could have teleported out certainly, but if he did, he would have made contact with them by now. He wouldn't be unavailable for contact. Not to mention it was unlike him to run away from danger, especially when those closest to him were in trouble. He could have teleported out and then come into more danger, but that was a long shot. 

The house system has several lockdown measures. It was possible that Mega Man could be trapped in a room, particularly the rooms in the basement. Mega Man could have gone down there and either gotten trapped or hid himself away. Hiding was unlike Mega Man also. 

Roll started her way down the laboratory. It was nearly a separate mansion in itself, designed this way to ensure that containment was maximized if one of Dr. Light's experiments got out of control. The walls were reinforced litanium and the doors all had lockdown measures to go off in emergency or on command. It was possible a command router suffered damage and Mega Man would be trapped down there. 

She took the smaller loading ramp down, meant for front door deliveries. It was a long hallway slanted down to go into the lab. It ended at a closed door blinking green and yellow. That indicated some sort of warning or error, unfortunately she couldn't tell which. 

Roll unlocked the command entry panel in the lower right of the door with an alphanumeric keypad. The red LED screen was flashing a message - 'DO YOU WISH TO UNLK L7DOOR? Y/N'. 

Roll pressed nine on the keypad, the same as 'Y'. The display screen asked 'PLEASE ENTER PASSCODE'. 

Roll knew all the basic passcodes for the security doors, so she entered one. The red letter color changed to a more pleasant orange with the message "PASSCODE ACCEPTED". The lights on the door returned to stable green. Roll shut the panel and pulled up the release crank on the door itself. The titanium slab split in two and slid back into the wall, revealing the real door. The motion sensors reawakened with the presence of Roll in front of them and opened. 

Roll entered the one of the lab rooms. A large bookshelf filled up the space of one wall and two tables stood in the middle. Several welding and drilling machines and smaller tools were scattered through the rest of the space. 

"Rock?" she called out. "Are you here." She traipsed through this room and into another with a similar set up. No Rock there either. Four other labs later there was nothing. Through her rapid succession she barely noticed that in this particular one, half the room was in a decrepit state. The tables were broken, the papers were thrown apart, cabinet doors were open or ripped off the hinges. Going into the next room, she noticed the pattern increasing and the damage with it. 

"Uh-oh," she muttered to herself. This was one of Dr. Light's bigger laboratories, connecting to the alternate loading ramp. The door was locked down and flashing red, and she noticed a piece of black-colored metal in the vague shape of an arm lay near it. Roll immediately walked over and picked it up. It was clearly not Mega Man's, giving her a sigh of relief. 

"Well, at least he got one of them," she said as she tossed it back on the floor. She looked to the left and saw a chaotic pile of metal tubes and circuitry. Before the incident, Dr. Light was working on his large-scale transporter here. Unfortunately, it was now demolished. The tattered ruins of the metal circle lay in a heap on the floor like a pile of straws. The control box was flung to the other side of the room. All the other tools and implements were strewn about and more closets and file cabinets were torn away. 

Roll stepped closer to the destroyed teleporter, disappointed that Dr. Light's most recent work now had to be started all over again. She hoped Rock hadn't tried to use it.   


* * *

Mega Man looked idly at the books in the Seer's bookcase. Many forgotten tomes of literature filled the shelves with information about the land, some ridiculous, some not - "Divining for Fun and Profit", "Lands of Hyrule", "Prophecies", "Charcraft's Timeline Theory". If he was a data-retaining robot, he would be speeding through these books, but it would take Mega Man too much time to absorb all this information. The science of Hyrule was weaved into a complex web of magic and sorcery, so much so Mega Man could never hope to separate the fact from the half-fact. 

He pulled a book down from the shelf - "Races of Hyrule" - and began reading about a race called Zoras. "Zoras have a history of severe evolutionary changes. Earliest reports indicate that Zoras were once a civilized species living under the freshwater of Hyrule. The positioning of found bones indicate they could walk upright and had hands and arms like other humans. The head was their most distinguishing feature. Male heads tapered back to a long tail-like growth complete with fluke. Female heads fanned out from the back of the cranium. Their skin was smooth and they needed water to survive. At some point, a great disaster occurred in the Zora world which caused them to either die out or undergo major physical change. Some speculate that using magic and the natural process of evolution over time they took to the air, becoming a race of 'bird-men'. However, there is no evidence that these bird-men existed. Others believe that Zoras changed into the unintelligent species that menace our waterways today. Some think that this is untrue and the naming is a conventional mistake. 

"Zoras today sport green scaly skin and fin-like outgrowths at the head. Their mouths are filled with fangs and they have the ability to spit fire. Only strong shields have the ability to deflect this attack so they should be eliminated with long-range weapons. Reports are sketchy, given their tendency to dart in and out of water at fast speeds, but some indicate their ability to walk on land. 

"Despite their animosity with the civilized races of Hyrule, the Zoras seem to retain some sort of cohesive society. Their aggressive nature may be a defense mechanism against intruders into their domain. The existence of the Zora King supports this theory, who has the ability to speak and collect currency. Little else is known about this figurehead, though." 

The book then went on to talk about waterways, the best attack and defense strategies, more details about their possibility of civilization, etc. Mega Man didn't much like the gaps in the facts and logic behind the information in these encyclopedic tomes. Despite all the knowledge that has been collected and written down, none of it was very firm. Holes were everywhere. It was as if those who wanted to make an information volume relied on secondary reports instead of going out and collecting empirical data. Maybe those who were scientific in nature were ill-equipped to defend against the apparent dangers in the world. 

"Are you finished yet?" Mega Man asked the Seer who was behind the curtain. 

"Almost, almost. Got to get the powder mixed. The powder must be mixed a lot, sir." 

Mega Man rolled his eyes. He had been waiting in the Seer's room for nearly three hours since he had pulled him out of dinner with the 'important news'. Apparently the important news was that he had to wait while the Seer conducted his experiment. In the meantime, the Seer had taken to asking him annoying questions about his world and his past. 

"Now tell me," the Seer said as he was doing his own thing. "Your armor, what it is made from." 

"It's a special titanium alloy, built to resist plasma energy blasts." 

"Ah, I see, interesting. It seems so hard and tough. Could you show our blacksmiths how to make it?" 

"Probably not, unless you have an electro-chemical plant." 

"No, but maybe you have some seeds?" 

"Seeds?" Mega Man then realized what he meant. "Never mind, I don't think you could make it. It's found mostly in the planet's crust, if that helps." 

"It does not!" he said eccentrically. 

Mega Man was disappointed, all these people seemed to care about was his battle capabilities. Granted that's what his purpose was, but he had so much more. He had joints that were used in medical replacement surgery, he had computer data storage technology, he had decades of knowledge ahead of him that would help them excel in the most simple things like agriculture, irrigation, and transportation, but no one was asking him those questions. 

"All right, come back here," he finally said. Mega Man pulled back the curtain and found the robed man sitting at the table with a bowl of powder sitting on a large map. He held up a long needle. "I need a drop of your blood." 

"I have no blood." 

"What?" 

"I don't have blood. I'm a robot." 

"You have no blood? Well, how is this supposed to work?" 

"What is it?" 

"It's supposed to be a locator. A locator that would display on this map where your home is. That it would." 

Mega Man looked over a map on the Seer's table. It was the largest scale map he probably had with the whole of the land on it. 

"I don't think you understand. Even if I had blood, this map wouldn't show you where I'm from. I know I don't live in this... this place. The entire area." 

"You mean you don't live in Hyrule?" 

"I mean, I don't think I live anywhere on this planet. Maybe not even this time." 

"Oh my, my, my, my, my, my, my." The Seer stood up from the table and shuffled around worriedly, pacing back and forth behind his table, his finger to his lips deep in thought. Mega Man thought he looked something like a Druidic wind-up toy. 

"Oh dear, this is harder than I thought. Not qualified for this. Oh my. Definitely, definitely not qualified." He worked his way around the table and past Mega Man to the bookshelf. He traced his finger smoothly along the rows of books, going down each row in a column until he came down to the lower shelf with the dusty lesser-used books. 

"It could, it couldn't, it could, it couldn't. Here." He took one of the leather bound books out and opened it. "Sometimes, sometimes, they come out. This book. This book talks about this world. This world and the worlds that might be beyond it. Past Hyrule, past the sun, past everything." 

"Past everything? I'm sorry, but I just don't think you have the evidence yet to understand it." 

"A theory do you have then?" 

"Maybe. In my time we have some scientists who believe that there are parallel dimensions. Other universes like this one. Ones that exist in a different time and space, but are almost identical in nature." 

"Ooh, ooh, my head hurts. What is this gobbledy-gook you spatter?" 

"I mean that maybe, somehow, the gate that brought me here somehow sent me to this place. This is a parallel dimension to mine, and mine is a parallel dimension to yours." 

"Preposterous thinking. I like it. The infinite possibilities of worlds beyond this. Whole worlds. It's too much for this little Seer to think about." 

"What are you saying? That you can't get me home?" 

"How? How would I do so? The magic hasn't been invented yet that can transport us from even one room to another. How would I transport you across worlds?" 

Mega Man looked down dejectedly, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. "There must be some kind of transportational magic that you have. Maybe it can be amplified?" Mega Man couldn't believe what he was saying - relying on magic, an unproven science, to get him home. 

"I don't know. Don't know do I. More research must be done. Research on a completely unknown subject, yes. I will consult my fellow fortune-tellers. Perhaps something, perhaps something. But until then..." he shut the book with a sharp snap, a cloud of dust flew up. "You may as well make yourself comfy." 

Mega Man tapped his fingers against his leg, caught in a recursive loop of trepidation.   


* * *

Link's sleep came slowly. The steak he had eaten felt like a rock in his stomach, like his body had barely made an effort getting it digested. Though his belly felt stiff, his tired muscles and his relaxed mind made the rest of the effort of carrying him off to dreamland. 

His four-post bed was unbecoming of a traveling hero, but it was deserving of the one who had saved Hyrule. His triple layered sheets kept him warm in the drafty castle. Thin white satin curtains hung draped over the high posts. He rested his head on three down pillows. The top sheet was a royal purple, emblazoned with the royal Triforce symbol and ornamented with runes and curly lines. Link slept soundly on this pleasant bed, dressed in his light blue flannel pajamas. 

In his state, he flipped over, placing his hands under the pillow for comfort. He was oblivious in this condition. His alertness was non-existent. For someone who often slept outside in the midst of danger, this bed dragged him down deeper into a trance-like sleep. For this reason, he did not see the black shape open the window of his room. 

A light breeze entered with the assassin, fluttering the curtains next to the portal. The shape stepped into the room, not making a sound, soft padded feet hitting the carpet as light as a feather. Moonlight reflected off his gleaming eyes, making them seem soulless. Pulling out a knife from his belt, he held it blade down as he crept closer to Link's bed. 

The shadow of the killer flowed up Link's content face like a shroud. The stiletto blade of the knife dangled in front of Link's shut eyes. He gripped tighter on the hilt. 

Suddenly he felt a shifting of the rug below him. Surprised, he looked down and found a long tube like projection coming out from under the bed. It touched his legs and sent forth a sharp blast of electricity. 

"Ercck!" the killer let out accidentally, nearly dropping the knife. 

Link's eyes shot open, wide and alert, as if he never went to sleep at all. He tore off the covers just in time to see the black shape stumbling back from the shock. The buzzblob shimmied out from under the bed and angrily burbled at the assassin. 

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Link yelled as he assumed a fighting stance, bobbing slightly on the mattress. 

The black-clad killer scowled at Link and leapt out the window. Link and the buzzblob dashed to the window and looked out. No sign of him on the ground, the roof or anywhere. He apparently had disappeared. Link muttered under his breath in angered disappointment. 

Zelda and a guard burst into the room as Link turned around dejectedly. "Link, we heard you yell. Did something happen?" 

"Yeah, we found out that castle security is terrible." 

**Next Chapter: Finding a Clue**


	15. Chapter 15: Finding a Clue

_Chapter 15: Finding a Clue_

"I didn't get a very good look at him. He was meant for stealth though - all black, padded feet. All I could see were those eyes. They didn't seem human, they seemed to almost glow. It was weird." 

"Hmm," Zelda hummed. Her, Link, Mega Man, and Horace were sitting at the meeting table, discussing last night's attempt on Link's life and its possible implications. "This matter is getting more and more severe all the time. I sincerely believe that this is related to Advisor Noktwor. Horace?" 

"I cannot say one way or the other. Although, I have disciplined him for his 'threat' on your life. It appears it didn't scare him enough. Of course I can't reprimand him for this - not enough evidence." 

"Whether the two are related or not is immaterial," Mega Man said. "He may have just been a mentally unstable person. Link has made some enemies in the criminal underground. Clearly, staying at the castle is no longer a safe option." 

"I'm almost certain whoever stole the pendants is behind this," Link muttered. "But what's the connection?" 

"Master Link! Master Link! Oh my goodness gracious." The Seer pounced into the room and skittered up to the table. "It's real. It's real!" 

"What?" 

"The cloth. The cloth with the fourth Triforce piece." He waved it in the air excitedly. 

"What? You're kidding. Are you sure?" 

"I am. See these runes? They're from a tongue spoken before the Book of Mudora, but I was able to deduct what the characters translated to. These runes mean that the fourth piece is the element of unity. When it's combined with the three others, it will grant the one who touches it the power of the three gods. They will be omnipotent. God-like, even. They could literally do anything." 

"Anything?" Link took the cloth and looked at it. He studied the inked image of the four triangles, separated by only a small space, all glowing with energy. The surface circle of runic characters had no meaning to Link. 

"It's crucial. Crucial to the fate of the world. You must find it, Link. Oh, must find it." 

Link remained extremely skeptical. So skeptical he could have plastered a wall with all the skepticism. "The Triforce of Unity, you say?" Link said. He looked longingly at Zelda. She came up and looked at the cloth over his shoulder. 

"Where did the old man say he got this from?" 

"A treasure chest that washed up on shore. No other information about it. He also gave me a copper mushroom, and said it would help me on my quest," Link said. "Is there any prophecy about questing for the fourth Triforce piece?" 

"Er... I'm afraid not. None that I can find." 

"Well, then you better write one. I'm going." 

"Link, you can't do this. Once this gets out, everyone in the world is going to be looking for it and they'll stop at nothing." 

"I can't afford to wait. The next thing to wash up on shore might be that piece. Besides it's not safe to stay in the castle anyway. Next assassin might be meant for you." 

Zelda grunted in frustration and threw up her hands. "We need to solve this mystery, now! Horace, get every man you can on it. I want this culprit found out. I want this conspiracy exposed." 

"Already done, your majesty," Horace bowed and walked out. 

"I'm not going to let anyone or anything stop me from proving who is guilty," she muttered resolutely to herself. Zelda turned back to Link. "Link, you just got back from one quest, and you were lucky enough to finish it right away. Don't go off on some wild cucco chase." 

"Adventures are what I do, Zelda. It's what I was made for." He turned to Mega Man. "Will you come with me?" 

"Me? You _want_ me on your adventure?" 

"I could really use an extra hand," Link said. "You've proven yourself before." 

"Maybe I should stay here, in case they find a way to send me back home." 

"I really wouldn't worry about that. Unfortunately," the Seer added. 

Mega Man looked down dejectedly. So it would take that long? What was Mega Man going to do with himself here. Until he found out, he would follow the only friend he had made here. "I would be honored," he said as he stood up. "But where are we supposed to start looking?" 

"There is always some clue. Sometimes it's small, you just have to keep your eyes peeled for it." Link reached into his pocket and felt the copper mushroom bulging out.   


* * *

Mega Man was nowhere to be found. No evidence that he was destroyed, no record of him having left, no trace of him. To say Roll was worried would be an understatement. Nonetheless, she was made to follow orders. Upon unsuccessful completion of finding Rock, she now had to search through the mansion for whatever object Dr. Wily had stolen. So far it was also shaping up to be unsuccessful. 

Dr. Light had never given Roll image memory, only schematic memory, meaning that she didn't have exact pictures of what the mansion should have looked like, only what was supposed to be there in terms of pure data. With the state of the mansion, the hopes of finding the lost object were slim to none. Anything that was not broken was accounted for. The pictures in the drawing room, the furniture, tablecloths, vases, the fireplace poker, even the little glass unicorn on the shelf was there. 

The story was the same for each room she looked in. Everything matched up with her records. Every nook and cranny, from the largest piece of equipment to the smallest chotchke was accounted for in her databanks. She looked in safes, all the money was there. The technical documents were all accessible. Broken pieces of paintings and shot up furniture littered the less cohesive parts of the house, but they too were accounted for. The foodstuffs matched up to the inventory, although she had no idea why robots would want to steal a taco. 

Roll was beginning to feel like this search for a needle in a haystack was a waste of time. She had the same abilities as Mega Man now, she could fight, she could take down Dr. Wily... if she knew where he was. 

She entered Dr. Light's bedroom, the last room she had thought to search. She opened all the drawers, finding clothes, mostly consisting of dress shirts and slacks, all neatly folded. The counts matched what was present compared with what was in laundering. The dresser's surface contents also stood tidy. A photograph here and there, a small box for cufflinks, some personal mail still to be looked at. That was all there. The bed itself was smooth and unfettered. Dr. Light's nightstand was undisturbed. The end table next to the dresser had its contents - pencils, paper, scissors, folders - all there. The painting above the end table, displaying a mishmash of purple and red colors was untouched. The adjacent bathroom had nothing out of place. All the cleaning utilities, the sonic shower, the bathtub. A place for everything and everything in its place. 

Roll exited the bathroom, frustrated. She sat on the bed and opened the nightstand drawer with a touch of the button. A puff of air thrust the drawer open and she pulled it out the rest of the way. Again, not really expecting to see anything she tussled through the contents - a tissue box, some shoe polish. Roll pulled out an old book to see the bottom of the drawer. Old junk rattled around in the plastic insides. Roll pulled her hand out and sighed. 

She noticed a white piece of paper coming out the book, trapped therein. Curious, she opened to the pages it was stuck between and found it was an old photo album. Roll didn't realize Dr. Light had one of these. They were even printed on photographic paper, not just stored in Photo Display Units like the one on top of the dresser. 

Roll smirked happily as she began paging through the documents. This was a side of Dr. Light she had never seen before. There were pictures of him with his family, his friends, people she had no idea of who they were. One picture showed him standing with four university professors on a graduation stage. Another one showed him in his younger years, before he grew a beard, wearing a college mascot sweater and cooking on a hibachi barbecue. 

She practically giggled to herself as she looked through page and page of old memories. Lots of them were of Dr. Light as a younger man, either working at computer stations or mechanical environments or at social gatherings. She had no idea he had so many lady friends in his youth. One was a picture of Dr. Light standing next to a metallic endoskeleton shaped like a human. He was grinning ear-to-ear, his demeanor contrasting with the mechanoid's cold faceless expression. A true testament to Dr. Light, he was delighted as ever to be working with humanless machines, making them more human. 

Further into the book, Roll found pictures of Dr. Light in his years of working with Dr. Wily. Some were of them working in the lab, busily slaving over computers and wires, some were of them attending social functions and conventions. In these, Dr. Light always seemed genuinely happy, putting his arms around the shoulder of his companion. However, Dr. Wily always had a fake smile emblazoned on his leathery wrinkled face. His eyes gave him away. Early evidence of Dr. Wily's dissatisfaction of life. Roll wondered why Dr. Light kept pictures of his nemesis in his album. She would think that he would want to forget about the man who betrayed him and destroyed his creations. 

Soon Roll finally found pictures of Dr. Light holding a disc called RockNRoll AI Ver 2.0, with a humongous grin on his face. This must have been the human equivalent of a sonogram picture for Dr. Light. Moving forward she found pictures of their slow transformation, from skeletal structures to circuitry and onward to having a protective outer shell to even having hair and eye color. 

The next page was a full top-down body shot of Rock and Roll lying next to each other, possibly moments before their activation. Rock had a white t-shirt and blue shorts on. Herself had a pretty red dress, the one she wore every day. Roll smiled to herself when she thought about the early days, learning about the world with her brother Rock. Exploring the house, being taught by their creator how to perform the tasks they would be doing. She wondered if they would ever be able to go back to those times. 

The following pictures reinforced her memories as she gazed at shots of Rock and Roll standing next to the oak tree outside, washing dishes, repairing a light fixture. It seemed that the smallest menial tasks were milestones in the mind of Dr. Light. Still paging through, she found a picture of Rock, Dr. Light, and Roll sitting in the bedroom, the exact same spot she was sitting now, in fact. Rock was giving the victory sign, while Dr. Light and Roll looked at the camera and smiled. She remembered this moment. This was when one of Dr. Light's colleagues - Dr. Cossack - came all the way from Russia to visit them and wanted a picture of the three of them for remembrance. Apparently the photo studio had made a double of the print and he sent one to Dr. Light. This was a great picture of them, Roll thought. They looked like a real family, working together, playing together, with mutual love for each other. Roll couldn't imagine a life without them. With Mega Man lost and Dr. Light in an unknown medical condition, she wondered what would become of her if they disappeared. Who would there be to serve? She wondered if she was ready for that kind of independent thinking and action. 

Roll lamented how much things had changed since this picture was taken. Rock's goofy grin showed him like his former optimistic, fun-loving self, Dr. Light the doting father, and Roll the shy but loving sister and daughter. Now Rock had become Mega Man, forcing a drastic attire and personality change. He had become so much more serious in his years, the burden of keeping the world safe and justice preserved had created an almost visible burden on his shoulders. Roll had become more sarcastic and jaded. And Dr. Light had become worry-worn, constantly battling Dr. Wily from the sidelines, racing to keep his technology updated and upgraded. Maybe that's why people took still photographs, to keep memories frozen in time, preserving what was good about what had happened past. Roll tried to envision a future where Rock was still wearing his white t-shirt and blue shorts, where he still grinned from ear-to-ear at having his picture taken. Where Dr. Light had a successful robot enterprise without needing to worry about the fate of the world. Where his bedroom seemed like a sanctum. Not a place to keep memories preserved but to live those memories, memories where Dr. Light, Rock and herself sat on this blue bedspread and took pictures of the bedroom with his dresser, his end table with his vase, his colorful painting on the wall... 

Wait, that vase... 

That vase wasn't there before. 

Roll looked behind her at the end table. No vase. 

She looked again at the picture. Vase. 

That was what was missing. 

**Next Chapter: Belief in Fairies**


	16. Chapter 16: Belief in Fairies

_Chapter 16: Belief in Fairies_

Roll entered the kitchen in a great hurry. It was the closest room with a working phone. The one in the living room was destroyed and the mets and other small bots were busily trying to repair the damage. 

She hit the 'call' button and said "Mercy Hospital". The phone emitted a faint crackling as it made the necessary connections throughout the network, only audible to her. 

The image of a robot nurse with blue hair and pink eyes came on the screen. "Welcome to Mercy Hospital. Please state your request." 

"Please transfer me to Dr. Thomas Xavier Light's room," Roll said. 

"One moment, please," the robot cheerfully replied. Roll thought of how Dr. Light once said that, in his younger days, phone systems were automated so you would have to listen to endless menus to get anywhere. He said that one of the greatest things he did was put a stop to that by making robots so intelligent they could do anything you asked. 

Dr. Light came on the screen, sitting in his hospital bed wearing a gown, looking jovial. He had his hands placed around the screen, still adjusting the comm device attached to the swing arm in the wall. "Hello, Roll. Confounded comm doesn't seem to want to stay put." He eased his hands away from the device, gently clutching it a few times to try and stick it in one spot. "Well, have you found anything," he said as he sighed and leaned back. 

"I haven't been able to find Rock yet. He hasn't teleported out. He hasn't contacted either me or anyone else. I haven't found any trace of him in the mansion. It's as if he just disappeared." 

"Disappeared? Oh dear. What could have happened to him. You don't think Wily took him, do you?" 

"I don't think so. Mega Man would never allow that to happen, he'd sooner be destroyed than let Dr. Wily know his secrets. And there was no evidence that he was destroyed either." 

"What about Rush? Tango?" 

"I have not discovered them either. They may be where Mega Man is or they may be hiding below the house. I'll try and find them." 

"All right good. They may know where your brother went. I know Rush was probably the last of us to see him. What about the object? Did you find that?" 

"I believe so. There was a vase in your bedroom that was missing. I conducted a full intensive scan of the house and could not find any trace of it. Meaning it wasn't broken or hidden." 

"A vase? In my bedroom?" 

"Yes, it was sitting next to the end table on the dresser on the right side as one would enter. Below the painting." 

"Curious. I can't seem to remember that vase," he said as he looked up and away. 

"Are you saying it was not supposed to be there?" 

"No, no. It's just that sometimes you get so used to what's normal you become desensitized to it, you forget that it's there in the first place." 

"I found it in an old picture from thirteen years ago that had the vase in it. I don't know if perhaps it was given away or sold?" Roll asked, suddenly realizing that the vase may not have been what Wily was looking for. 

"No, no, I remember it now. It was gray, wasn't it?" 

"Yes." 

"And it had a weird design spiraling around it, a sort of zig-zag." 

"Correct," Roll smiled. 

"Hmmm, no, I didn't sell it or get rid of it. It's always been there in my room. I can't remember where I got it from though. Thirteen years, you say?" 

"Perhaps. Maybe more." For all she knew, he could have gotten it when he was three. She clearly remembered seeing and cleaning the vase in the bedroom when it was there, now that she could find it in her databanks. 

"Let's see. Before that time, many people gave me gifts. Trying to get on my good side, investors and whatnot. But that's not where the vase would come from. A vase is more personal." 

"Dr. Cossack was the one taking the picture. Maybe if-" 

"Dr. Cossack!" Dr. Light yelped with wide eyes. Roll jerked back in surprise. "Of course, why didn't I think of that before. Dr. Cossack was with me for nearly all that time before I created you and Rock, before I partnered with Dr. Wily. He would know where I got the vase from, he has a photographic memory. I'm sure I must have told him the story. Ask him. I'll bet he'll remember." Dr. Light bunched his fingers. "Hopefully, he'll know why it's so important. Otherwise, I have no idea how the vase is significant." 

"Understood. I will call him shortly. How is your condition?" 

"My condition? Oh..." Dr. Light sat back in his bed, relaxed. "Can't complain. My ribs are somewhat bruised and my left leg is broken. In fact, I'm waiting to go into surgery right now." 

"Surgery?" Roll nearly gasped. 

"Oh, don't worry about me, it's not serious. They just need to cut away some of the torn ligaments in my leg so that the bone can start healing. It sounds worse than it is. The doctors say that the ceiling landed in such a way that it really didn't put as much pressure on me as it should have, kind of like a little arch." 

"How long until you are back on your feet?" 

"Oh, weeks, at least. To make sure I have no complications. Plus I'll need physical therapy in order to be walking comfortably again. At my age though, I'm lucky to have survived something like this. I've still got some fight left in me," he said as he swung his fist energetically. In the back of his mind, though, he knew this would just be the first in a long series of hospital visits for his deteriorating body. There were fewer days ahead than behind. 

"Oh, one last thing, Dr. Light. Dr. Wily destroyed your new type of teleporter." 

"Oh, dear, you don't think... you don't think that's where Rock has gone to?" 

"I don't know, Dr. Light. I don't know." 

"I never got the chance to test it on a live subject before. The transfiguring system. Oh dear. And I'm here in the hospital." 

"Don't stress out, Dr. Light. We'll find him soon enough. I believe wherever he is he's safe." 

"I hope you're right, dear."   


* * *

"It seems we were just here, doesn't it?" Link said as he closed the top of his knapsack. 

"I hate seeing you go," Zelda said. 

"I know. But it's what I do, I guess." 

"I'll try and keep him out of trouble for you," Mega Man said as he smiled. 

Zelda nodded. "Have you got everything you need?" 

"I should," Link said as he patted his bag. "Take care of Buzzy for us," he said, looking down at the green blob wiggling back and forth next to Zelda's train. 

"Um, I'll try. I'm not really sure how though." 

Link knelt in front of the buzzblob. "Buzzy, take care of Zelda for me." 

Buzzy burbled in response. Link laughed quietly. 

"Let's go," he said to Mega Man. The two traveled down out of the castle and into the grassy courtyard. Fresh blue air hit them as they strolled down the garden path. Link looked back and saw Zelda, the Seer, and Buzzy were standing on the wall, waving goodbye to them. He smiled and waved back, glad that he had such friends. Mega Man looked where Link was and waved back as well. 

The castle gate was already open and they passed under it to the field of trees before them. 

"So what is our next destination?" Mega Man asked as they walked across the limestone bridge. 

"Well, the last time I had a mushroom," Link said as he pulled out the small fungus from his pocket, "I brought it to the Magic Shop and she gave me a magic powder. But that was with a regular forest mushroom, not one made of copper," he said, cautiously fingering it. "Can't say I know what she'll do with a metal one. If she can do anything with it at all. It may be a dead end. But it's the only place I've got so far." 

"Where is the witch's shop located?" 

"East, but we're not going there," Link said resolutely. "We need to stop at a fairy fountain first." 

"A fairy fountain?" Mega Man hadn't a clue what that could be, but it sounded unnecessary. "Can we afford the time to stop there?" 

"We can't afford not to stop there. Fairies are invaluable. If I were struck down in battle, the fairy would release itself and heal me. Fairies have saved my life countless times." 

The pair loped down the treaded path and into a valley near swampland. Walking around its border they came to a dark cave in the cliff wall. Link entered and Mega Man followed. As they cantered down the tunnel, Mega Man could hear the faint sounds of harps playing, sounding like angels on high. He could hear the gentle sound of lapping water in the distance. The light near the end grew brighter and he found a pool of water in the overhanging cavern. Lights like big fireflies danced around the pond. 

Wait, they weren't fireflies at all. Mega Man adjusted his eyes to accept more light and found they were actually tiny people! With wings! And tiny little dresses! They even had small antenna poking out of their auburn hair. The white aura around them seemed to sparkle like stars. This was extraordinary! This was the first time Mega Man had seen something truly magical, something that only existed in fantasies in his world. 

"They... they're fairies!" he said astonishedly. "They're tiny flying people. And they... they..." 

"Jeez, you'd think you'd never seen fairies before," Link said as he fetched an empty bottle from his knapsack and uncorked it. 

"I haven't! They don't exist." Mega Man exclaimed, almost hypnotized by the fluttering creatures. A whole new species of intelligent life. Almost unconsciously he stepped forward into the pond, his large boot making a ripple in the clear water. The fairies flew about in random patterns, seemingly undisturbed by Mega Man's encroachment. He reached out a hand and tried to touch one, leaning forward slowly. He seemed mesmerized by their pale white light that seemed so peaceful. 

"Whoa," Mega Man realized he was losing his balance on an unstable rock and circled his arms to try and stay up. But it was too late. He fell forward with a gigantic splash. Fairies skittered about from the commotion and surprise. 

Link threw back his head in boisterous laughter. "Ha ha ha! Hey, while you're down there, think you can catch one for me? Ha ha ha!" 

Mega Man, water dripping down his face, glowered at Link. 

Link's laughter faded down to aftermath chuckles. "Ahh, that was good." He clutched the bottle in one hand and the cork in the other. After being so delighted, he tried to switch to focusing on being stealthy and capturing one. "Come here," he mumbled to himself. 

Link set his sights on one of the closer bright lights flickering around. It flew back and forth, just out of his reach. Link crept closer and sprung out, using his entire body to pull the fairy into the jar in a flash. Quickly, he corked the bottle. 

Link raised it up in the air triumphantly. "All right, I caught a fairy!" He looked down at Mega Man. "Ahem, sorry." 

Suddenly, one of the fairies flew close to Link and started circling him. "Whoops," he uttered. The little white light flew around and around Link at fast speeds, leaving a trail of stardust drifting down. 

"What was that?" Mega Man asked as he stood up, water sloughing off his metal hide. 

"It healed me. Or it would have if I was hurt. If they get close to you, they'll spin around you and cure your wounds to a certain level." 

Mega Man thought back to his power level, partially drained from their first encounter with a buzzblob. Would it really work? Would the fairy's magic heal him too? Mega Man briefly wondered whether he was compromising his own beliefs by trying it. But if he was going to live here, how long until his power winked out permanently. Mega Man trudged deeper into the pond, trying to inspect one of the sprites up close. They darted back and forth around him, until he was knee deep in the center of the pool. They seemed to be ignoring him. He tried running through the pond trying to catch one, sloshing water up and down, looking like a juvenile trying to catch a butterfly. The fairies didn't circle him. In fact, they treated him like he wasn't there, floating right across his nose. Mega Man checked his power level and found it unchanged from where it was before - half-power. 

"I don't understand. You're clearly close enough to them," Link said as he scratched his head under his cap. 

"Perhaps it doesn't work for me because I'm not organic," he said. "Or perhaps I'm not a creature of magic?" 

"Maybe. I guess you'll just have to watch yourself from now on," Link said. Once they arrived at the Magic Shop, he would see if a red potion had any effect. At the back of his mind, he worried. Fairies and potions were about the only two manners of healing in Hyrule. If they didn't work, what would happen if they met something that his armor wouldn't hold up against. 

**Next Chapter: The Sword of Storms**


	17. Chapter 17: The Sword of Storms

_Chapter 17: The Sword of Storms_

"Excuse me?" Zelda said as she entered the room. "Are you in here? Is anyone in here?" She would have knocked, but her arms were full with the buzzblob. 

"Just a minute! Mmm, mmm," the Seer called out from behind the curtain. He tugged it back and came out with a bowl of white and yellow seeds, grinding them with a blunt stick. "Yes, dear Princess, what is it?" 

"Is that another experiment you're doing?" she asked. 

"Of course not. It's my lunch." 

"Oh, well, I have a question," she held up Buzzy, who had his eyes half-shut, not looking so well. "How am I supposed to take care of this thing? What does it eat? Does it eat? I don't even see a mouth." 

"Intriguing, intriguing. Let's see," the Seer walked over to his bookshelf and took out a thick volume. "Buzzblobs," he began reading. "Also known as kukemages. Attempts to attack it with a sword or short-range weapon will result in a nasty electric shock. In lieu of something long-range, it is best to avoid these slow moving creatures. They tend to stay indigenous to the southeastern quadrant of Hyrule in dry areas. Also, if you sprinkle magic powder on them, some say something strange might happen." 

"So, what, it eats magic powder?" 

"Ooh, methinks not. Tis a magical creature by nature. Let me take a look." The Seer put down his bowl and held out his arms for the Buzzblob. Zelda delivered the hefty baby into his hands. 

"Oh, wook at da wittle baby buzzy, yes, youse is a big baby, yes, you is. Does da baby want some mashed seeds, does he, does he?" The Seer picked up a spoon of the white mush and held it in front of Buzzy while cradling him with his other arm. "Here comes the birdy!" he said as he flew the spoon around in front of the green critter. The buzzblob didn't seem to care much about it, just kept staring straight ahead. 

"Um, yeah," Zelda said. "You keep working on that. I've got some other things to do." Zelda hastily exited the room before she got sick on any more of the Seer's baby talk. 

The castle was starting to shade as the daylight from the windows dimmed. The pages were running around with candles, lighting the torches. Again that day, her thoughts came back to Mega Man and Link, wondering what they were doing, if they were in trouble or if they were wandering around lost. This wasn't a desire to be out there with him, fighting monsters and solving clever mysteries. This was about her own feelings of helplessness in these times of crisis, due to the fact she was a princess. Everyone was bent on protecting her as if she was as delicate and powerful as the Triforce. She wanted to be treated as an equal, she wanted to find out this mystery with them. This was about her abilities as a person, as a member of the castle. 

As she turned the corner to the next corridor she spotted the purple robe of Noktwor rush through the archway down the hall. Zelda's interest piqued and without much thinking she decided to follow him. If there was ever a better opportunity, it wouldn't show itself for some time. 

Picking up her dress she ran down to where she saw the advisor dart past. She looked left and saw a wooden door shutting at the end of the hall. Curious. That door led down to the basement, a storage room. Zelda picked up the pace and quietly opened the door too. She heard the footfalls of Noktwor on the stone steps spiraling downward. As quiet as she could she gingerly stepped down the staircase, otherwise her hard shoes would be making a lot of noise. She thought about taking them off, but decided she didn't want her feet to get dirty. 

Cautiously, she stopped at the point where the wall ended. A candle's light flickered off the wall, reflecting some dim shadows. She carefully peeked around the corner and saw Noktwor taking a seat at the far end of the table. Three other people she didn't recognize were seated as well, wearing civilian clothing, no one she recognized. Opposite the vizier was a character shadowed by the candlelight. His face was too dimmed to see him well. 

"You're late," the man in black said in an unearthly gravely voice that was anything but human. 

"It wasn't my fault," Noktwor said in his nasal voice. 

"Yes, many things aren't your fault," the black figure snidely commented. 

"I have to keep my duties, or I'll be suspected. That damn bitchness is already sniffing up my skirt." 

The three others sniveled with laughter. Zelda was visibly taken aback that the vizier had used such language, especially regarding her. No one in the castle dared talk with such vulgarity. 

"We are not pleased with your performance, Noktwor. You've done some sloppy work. Some very sloppy work." 

"I did what I told you I would, didn't I? I secured the pendants. It's not my fault that stupid old man decided to ruin our plans." 

"They know your motive. They know your method. They have the pendants returned. If it wasn't for the back-up plan, none of you would be alive right now." 

Zelda bit her lip as she wondered about the implications of this. Noktwor was working for somebody and working with somebody. And that someone had a plan, but what was it? 

"Your guild of thieves," the man in black continued, "Is no better than common rats and snakes. You were too slothful and thick-headed to get those pendants where they needed to go before Link swooped down on you." 

"It wasn't our fault," one of them said. "We had his back to the wall and then this blue guy came in and wiped us out. You shoulda seen him. He's got some freaky powers-" 

"I am well aware of this person. This ally of his. I've already started preparations to render him ineffectual. He is not the reason you failed. You are. I do not tolerate poor performance. I do not tolerate excuses. And I especially do not tolerate insolence." 

Noktwor curled his upper lip in defiance. "So what-" 

"Silence," the shadowed figure said. "There is someone foreign here." 

Zelda was already pumping her legs up the stairs. Now, she had the evidence to accuse Noktwor of treason. Immediately, she headed towards Horace's room.   


* * *

The sign next to the door read 'Magic Shop'. Seemed explanatory enough. The shanty looked thin and scrawny. There was what looked like an elongated cow skull on the thatched red roof, hanging over the entry. The wood on the door seemed a very aged gray and brown. 

"We go in?" Mega Man asked. 

"Yup," Link answered. He stepped up the three stairs and opened the door. The shop had a long table stretched out in the middle of the room with three large pots in it, colored red, green, and blue. A man in an olive green hooded robe sat down in the corner of the table and wall and mixed a pot of potion. Next to the door a witch stirred a cauldron full of a bubbling red ooze. She had white stringy hair, a long hooked nose, and black garb complete with pointy hat. 

"Double, bubble, toil and trouble. What business do you have for me today?" 

"Do you still make mushroom brew here?" Link asked 

"Mushroom brew! No one's brought me a mushroom for a very long time," she cackled. "Oh, how I miss the sweet pungent smell of the forest mushroom." 

"Well, it's not exactly a forest mushroom," Link said as he pulled out the copper mushroom from his pocket. "Can you do anything with this?" 

The witch dropped her jaw and let go of her wooden stirring spoon, which fell in the pot with a *blurp*. "A... copper mushroom. OOOOOH, you found it! You found it!" She scooped the mushroom out of Link's hand and held it up with both hands, like a delicate flower, while she pedaled her legs in place like a little kid. "Oh my, wait right here." The witch sped into the house, jumping over the table like a champion athlete and behind a door at the back of the room. 

"Wow, that old lady can move," Mega Man commented. 

Link smiled and approached the assistant near the pots. "Welcome. As long as you have an empty bottle you can take your pick. Red mends health, green restores magic, and blue does both. Would you like a sample of the red potion?" 

"Uh, can he try it?" Link said as he thumbed back to Mega Man. 

"Absolutely." The assistant took a wooden spoon out and dipped it into the red goo he was stirring, pulling out a bright red sample. 

Mega Man looked apprehensive. "I'm not sure if I can-glup-" The assistant shoved the ladle into his mouth. Mega Man now had a heaping spoonful of red goop in his mouth and no way to get rid of it. He hadn't even a hole in the back of his mouth to swallow with. 

"Well, is it working?" Link said. 

"Ah reahy appwheahe wha oo are booin, buh ah cahha swawwow hih." 

"What?" Link asked. 

"He said he cannot swallow this?" the assisstant said. 

"You have such digestive problems. How do you eat anything?" 

"Ah don. Ih thehre omewhere ah cah spih hih ow?" 

"Here," the assistant held up a jar to Mega Man's mouth. 

"Ptoo!" He spit the red potion into a jar using his robotic tongue and mouth muscles. 

"Well, then, red potion is a bust. Nothing affects you. You better be careful that your strength holds out, cause I don't know what's going to happen if you get hurt." 

"I wouldn't worry. My power converter unit is self-sustaining. I have no known life-span." 

"I'm more worried about battle." 

"Woo-hoo!" the witch said as she came out. "This is gonna be good." She was dragging a large cauldron out from the back room, moving a few steps at a time. 

"Uh, do you need some help with that?" Link asked politely. 

"Nope, nope, got it all taken care of." She shoved the potion table back in one huge shove, clearing the way for her to drag her pot into the center of the room. 

"How did you do that?" Mega Man asked the witch. 

"I take my vitamins." 

The cauldron was filled with a thick light blue texture, almost like liquid metal. She snatched Link's sword out of his scabbard while he was staring in the pot. 

"Hey!" Link said, not expecting her to seriously use it on him. 

"Now watch this." The witch stabbed the sword deep into the runny fluid. The bubbling ceased for a moment, as if it reacted surprised at the sword in its midst. Then it started boiling even greater than before. Tiny tendrils of purple electricity could be seen in the mix as the goo started swirling around the blade. The light in the room seemed dim as the blade started absorbing the liquid, as if it was going down the drain. As the potion level depleted, the sword began glowing with a strange blue energy, almost stained with it. Link knew something good was happening. 

The blade sucked up the last drop of potion, leaving the cauldron cleaned. The witch handed back the sword to Link. "Now your sword retains the power of the storm inside it. It can amplify its magic power. Isn't it amazing?" 

Link tilted the sword back, looking at its new electric blue color. "It sure is." Honestly, he didn't feel any difference, but it felt more powerful. There really wasn't any such thing as a bad upgrade to a sword, so he replaced the blade in its sheath and thanked the elderly maiden. 

The two exited the magic shop and looked around. 

"Well, that was helpful. But it didn't really assist in our quest," Mega Man said. The two started walking west down the river bank. 

"The power of the storms," Link said idly. "It's as if the ether medallion is now infused into my sword. I wonder if perhaps this could open a door somewhere." 

"Access to a weather-related door. Is there any-" 

A spear burst out of a nearby bush, headed straight at Link's head. Mega Man's super fast reflexes caught the polearm a millisecond before it would have impacted. Link instinctively fell back and rolled away, drawing out his sword in the process. 

"Nice catch." 

Mega Man threw the spear away and turned to the bush where it came from, arming his Mega Buster. "Show yourself!" 

A rush of moblins, armored with spiked shoulder pads and roman helmets, came running out of the bushes, behind the trees, brandishing spears and javelins. They snarled and barked, dripping drool from their jowls as they encircled and surrounded them. Slowly they closed in. 

"Okay, wait. I changed my mind. Go back in." 

**Next Chapter: The Vase of Dr. Selkirk**


	18. Chapter 18: The Vase of Dr Selkirk

_Chapter 18: The Vase of Dr. Selkirk_

Roll came down to the living room to see how the reconstruction was progressing. Their hefty insurance bills were now finally starting to pay off. Construction robots were repairing the walls and the new furniture was already sent in and set up. Two humans were supervising the construction outside, wandering from room to room and from their mobile van, making sure the house was being arranged exactly as it was before. Hopefully, it would be difficult to even tell that a disaster had taken place here once they had finished. 

A mettool skittered across her path, on its way to some other section of the castle. She tucked her feet back and kept on her path once it crossed. The living room couch was there, a different color than what she remembered, perhaps they couldn't find the original. No matter though. The new holographic TV was also there, and other technological components such as the sound system and light fixtures, along with the table's personal terminal for operating the various components. 

She pulled up the monitor to eye level and activated the call sequence. 

"Dr. Mihail Sergeivitch Cossack. Eurasia." 

The terminal monitor listed a series of commands showing it was connecting. The speaker piped up. "This call is long-distance and you will be charged an additional fee for connecting as described in the terms of agreement contract with TeleTech International. Do you accept these terms?" 

"Yes," Roll said, slightly irritated. 

The terminal continued its scrolling list of connection protocols. It then sounded a tone that indicated the call was waiting to be connected on the other end. An image of a bubbly preteen girl came on the screen. 

"Hello?" 

Roll recognized her as Kalinka, Dr. Cossack's daughter. "Hello. This is Roll. Can I speak to your father please?" 

"Oh, Roll! Hi, I didn't recognize you," she said in a Russian accent. Her English was excellent, due to her penchant for western culture typical of a thirteen-year-old. "You've got something on your head." 

Roll remembered she was still wearing her battle gear, including her demi-helmet. She had never thought to take it off because she had no feelings of comfort one way or the other. "Dr. Light has been upgrading me," she responded. 

"Wow, looks pretty cool. What sort of upgrades?" 

"I've been reconfigured for a battle environment. My power converter has been upgraded to accommodate energy pulses and spikes in my new sensory webnet. My servo-globules have been attached with EMT's in order to-" 

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice. Did you get an arm cannon like Mega Man?" 

"No. I do have these two laser pistols." She pulled the guns out of her holsters and held them up akimbo. 

Kalinka whistled in awe. "That's pretty sweet. Can you shoot something?" 

"Um, I don't think this is the appropriate place for that." 

"Oh, well, maybe you can show me some other time. Did you want to talk to Papa?" 

"Yes, please. Is he available?" 

"He's working on some new robots. But I'll go see." Kalinka slid away from the screen, displaying an empty couch. Off camera, Roll could hear Kalinka yelling in Russian at her father. However, she could understand Russian, along with a myriad of other languages. 

"Daaaaaad!" Kalinka yelled. "Roll's on the phone!" 

Faintly, from what sounded like across the house, Dr. Cossack responded, "What!" 

"I said Roll's on the phone!" 

"Rose is on the phone?" 

"ROLL! ROLL is on the phone." 

"What does she want?" 

Kalinka popped back on the screen. "What do you want?" 

"I need to ask your dad some questions about a vase." 

"K, hang on." Kalinka left the viewscreen again, apparently only moving about three feet away, despite her father being barely within earshot. "She says she wants to ask you about a vase!" 

"Stop yelling from across the house and just come here!" 

Roll heard Kalinka sigh angrily and saw her walk behind the couch into another room out of sight. After a few moments, the screen shifted upwards as Dr. Cossack's face came on the screen, squished by Kalinka's connection above. He appeared to be in a garage-like room with many machines. 

"Hello, Roll? It is good to be hearink your voice." 

"Likewise, doctor. Have you heard about the recent attack?" 

"Acch, terrible news. Is everyone all right?" 

"Dr. Light suffered a broken leg and numerous small injuries, but he's fine. I just talked to him. He's having surgery soon." 

"Aaah, good, good. I see you have new style." 

"Yes, I've recently received some upgrades." 

Dr. Cossack nodded affirmatively. On the upper screen, Roll could see Kalinka re-enter the living room and sit on the couch. She slouched in and started flipping through channels on the remote. 

"Kalinka, darlink, you can hang up the phone now." 

"WHAT?" she screamed as she turned around on the couch. 

"I said TURN OFF THE PHONE!" Dr. Cossack screamed. 

Kalinka jumped straight up as she heard her dad's voice come through the phone she had forgotten was still on. "Oh, sorry." She hit a button next to the screen and the image of Dr. Cossack scrolled up until he filled it at normal resolution. 

"Daughters..." he said idly. "So what is this question you are hawink?" 

"When Dr. Wily attacked, we thought he was out to destroy us. But it appears he only wanted to obtain an object. I've discovered that this object was a vase that was given to him by someone. We're hoping you know. Here's a picture." 

Roll accessed the menu interface and displayed the picture she had uploaded - the same one in which she had first found it. The picture showed up on a corner of the screen. 

"Da, I am rememberink this. This is near, thirteen years, I am thinkink?" 

"Approximately. Do you see the vase in the background?" 

"Yes, I am rememberink Dr. Light telling me somethink about it." 

"Yes, what was it?" 

"It was gift. Gift from other professor, before you were built. Yes, yes, Dr. Selkirk, I believe." 

"Dr. Selkirk? Dr. Light knew Dr. Selkirk?" Roll said quietly. 

"Yes, lonk time ago. Before... incident." 

Dr. Selkirk was a premiere roboticist more than a decade ago. A rival of Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and the remainder of the robot-building community, he was, suffice to say, a great computer mastermind. His designs were the foundation behind many of the AI programs used today. However, his mental stability was less than perfect. Several times at events such as conferences and award ceremonies he had burst out into violent fits of rage over minor particulars such as misprepared food. His laboratory had the highest employee turnover rate of anyone. And his personal demeanor was... less than stellar. If he hadn't come up with such amazing ideas, corporations would have never done business with him. He was both genius and madman. His way of looking at the world was so different from everyone else it had to have been the reason for both his success and downfall. One day, unfortunately, his dark half got the better of him and he went on a rampage in one of his labs, horrifically killing twelve of his own scientists. He was apprehended by a S.W.A.T. team and put into a maximum security prison where he committed suicide before he could stand trial. 

"I had no idea Dr. Light was friends with him," Roll said. 

"Oh, da, da, this was beink before he went all koo-koo in the head... moreso. As I am recallink, Selkirk said he made wase himself." 

"Really? Did he say anything else about it? He didn't store a secret formula inside the vase for safe-keeping, did he?" 

Dr. Cossack laughed. "No, no, would have found that by now, I think, no?" 

He was right, nothing was stored inside the vase. Roll would have found that by now. And if Dr. Selkirk had, in fact, created it, it wasn't of any anthropological significance, such as the key to a lost city or something silly like that. What was it about this vase? 

"Did Dr. Light tell you anything else about the vase?" 

"No, nothing important. It was made out of typical clay. Typical dye for the patterns. Based off a hydria design with handles. He said it looked nice under the paintink," he shrugged. "I am sorry I am not being of much help." 

"No, you've been a great help, Dr. Cossack. I'm sure I'll be contacting you again soon." 

"Give my best to Dr. Light." 

"I will. Thank you. Goodbye." 

"Dasvidanya, Roll."   


* * *

The visceral moblins snarled and snapped at him like bulldogs. Their jowls dripped with saliva as their burning yellow eyes dug into them. Their helmets flattened their piggish ears, making them seem like animals ready to attack. They poked their spears at the two viciously, egging them on to take some action. As they closed in, Mega Man and Link found themselves at each other's backs. 

"Sure is a lot of them," Mega Man said, reminding himself that these creatures weren't human and therefore not bound by the robot laws. 

"Got anymore tricks in your sleeve? Or arm?" 

"Well, I'm a pretty high jumper." 

"All right," Link focused on retaining magic energy in his sword, gathering his physical energy to spring forward. "Do it!" 

Link shot out from Mega Man's back and rushed into the circle of moblins. He thrust upward with his sword, deflecting an incoming spear. Slinging his shield off his back he struck the moblin in the face with it as he tucked his arm into the leather holding rings. Link continued with the momentum, barreling outside the circle, giving him more breathing room. The moblins roared and ambled forward. 

Mega Man jumped straight in the air, tumbling end over end. Twisting his body around he fired his arm cannon down at the ground. The plasma shot hit the moblin down on the head, tearing him in two. He vaporized in a puff of white smoke. 

Mega Man's inertia carried him forward into the branches of a tree. He hit stomach-first into a knotty bough. "Ow, this isn't what I had in mind," he said as he struggled to stay on. The limb began to crack from Mega Man's weight as the moblins clamored around the tree, poking their polearms up into the leaves. "Uh-oh." The branch snapped and Mega Man came tumbling down into the mix, falling on his hands and knees. One of the moblins grabbed him by the neck and thrust him up against the tree as he bellowed with rage, saliva spattering out of his mouth. 

"Say it, don't spray it." Mega Man thrust his arm cannon up into the monster's abdomen and fired. The plasma burst shot through his body like melted butter. He transformed into a hazy fog as Mega Man dropped back to the ground. 

"Who else wants some?" Mega Man spun around and found three moblins coming at him. He fired a plasma shot at the leader. 

He suddenly roared and held up a gigantic green boulder. The plasma shot impacted with the rock and dissipated as the other moblins gathered behind him. 

"What th'?" Mega Man said. He kept firing at the stone, but each shot kept getting absorbed. The green began to turn into orange and red. His plasma shots were heating up the rock, yet the moblins still held onto it. "Grr, why don't you come out of there," Mega Man said as he fired with intensity. The boulder glowed red hot, and he could smell the searing flesh as the beasts made their way toward him, defending his volley. The monster grunted and threw the rock at Mega Man in a surprisingly fast feat of strength. The blue bomber hadn't the time to escape. The irony of Rock being crushed by a rock flashed through his mind. He leaned back as far as he could. His feet firmly planted, he touched the grass with his hands as the boulder passed overhead, seemingly in slow motion. His thoughts turned to his battle with Guts Man as the stone crumbled into pieces behind him. 

The robot pushed off and uprighted himself as the moblins continued their assault. Another had already picked up a rock and hurled it at him. He jumped to avoid the incoming obstacle. "Jeez, you guys are strong." 

Link parried and thrust in close combat with the moblins nearby. He wasn't that used to defending against spears. Their long range was making it difficult, but their great length made them slow. He sliced one in two with his sword, the arrowhead dropped to the ground. Using the slicing thrust, he kept into the spin and sliced through the moblins belly, dissipating him into white smoke. The others kept closing in though. Link hovered behind his shield as they came at him. A few pokes with his sword was nothing compared to the beating he was taking. He dug into his knapsack and pulled out a bomb. 

"Let's see you handle this," he said and lobbed the bomb into the crowd, not looking where it was going. It landed behind the mob grouped around him, the fuse ominously hissing, while the monsters continued unabated. The bomb exploded, sending several of the beasts flying forward and up in the air like bowling pins. Link attacked and surfaced out from the melee. He had to keep away from being trapped in a corner, which the moblins were trying to do. 

"Let's see what this baby can do," Link said as he looked at his sword. "Watch out, Mega Man." The blue robot turned away for a split second to see what Link was doing as he defended against the continuous rock attacks. He leaned back and gathered the magic into his sword, the power of the storms. Violet tendrils of electricity danced around the blade as the skies darkened. Link held his sword up and a thick column of electricity struck it, feeding into the blade. He spun around and arms of lightning shot out, rotating around, zapping the enemies they touched. Several of the moblins that Link had already damaged vanished into thin air. 

The light show over, the lightning retracted into the blade and the sun returned. Link regained his footing, leaning over his sword, panting. "I'm out!" 

"What?" Mega Man shouted over the ruckus. 

"I'm out. That used up all my magic energy. I'm not used to it," he looked to the monsters recovering from the blow, regaining their senses. Mega Man jumped over the last rock and ran back to Link's side. 

"Are you all right?" he asked as he saw several more monsters coming out from the woods. Reinforcements. "There's more coming!" Mega Man said. A lot more. 

"We can't take them all," Link gasped. He stood up, holding up his shield and started moving backwards as the beasts crept forward. Mega Man treaded with him. 

"This does not look well," Mega Man commented. 

Link glanced behind him as he felt his footing change. They were backed up to the river bank, with water rushedly raging below them. "We have to jump!" Link said. 

"What? Are you crazy?" 

"You can swim, can't you?" 

"Not really," Mega Man said as he eyed the monsters about to pounce. 

"Now's a good time to leeeaaaarrrrn!" 

Link grabbed Mega Man's arm and pulled him down with him as he jumped into the river. 

**Next Chapter: Down by the River**


	19. Chapter 19: Down by the River

_Chapter 19: Down by the River_

Link poked his head out of the waves, taking a colossal breath. Waves of water rushed over him. He had to time his breaths so he wouldn't end up swallowing a gallon of water. He was disoriented from the fall, looking around for something recognizable, but the walls of the river were all he could see, although he knew he was swiftly being carried east. 

"Mega Man!" he yelled. Searching blindly for him. Little did he know Mega Man had sunk beneath the river. 

He could feel the torrent pulling at him. His weight and density made him sink to the riverbed where he could see debris and particles rushing forward, fish swam around him and high speeds. Errant bubbles emerged from under his helmet. He looked up and saw Link's legs thrashing around at the river's surface. Thankful he made it all right, he leaped forward, carried by the river current and the water's buoyancy, following Link's little legs. 

Link flailed about, looking for his friend. He spied a rock in the middle of the rushing river and swam for it, desperately hoping to grab it in the violent flow of the water, for he might not have another chance. The river's current carried him towards it and he grabbed onto the rocky surface. The river continued pulling at him with unseen arms, almost like it was beckoning for him. Link clutched on for dear life, hanging by the traction of his fingertips. Carefully he pulled himself towards the craggy island, clutching onto a spiky outcrop. Now he had enough torque to pull onto the land. He sat on the rock, catching his breath. 

Mega Man saw the unusual spike in the middle of the river bed and Link's body stopping as he hit it. Hopefully, Link hadn't hit his head on it. He launched himself towards the earthy spike and clutched onto the side. The river's rapids picked up and it took all his strength to hang on as the water beat at him. He shut his eyes and grimaced. 

"Mega Man!" Link shouted above the water. He hadn't seen him since he lost his grip when they hit the water. "Where are you!" He scoured the waves looking for a blue body in blue water, a challenge in itself. He looked behind him and in front, his mind racing at what had become of him. He must have really meant it when he said he couldn't swim and he suddenly felt a stab of guilt for forcing him into something so rashly. Link stood up and steeled himself to dive back into the water to search for him. 

Suddenly, a blue helmeted head popped out of the water, gripping onto the rock. Link thanked the power of the Triforce inwardly as he helped him up onto solid ground. 

"Well, that was fun," Mega Man said as he took off his helmet and shook the water out. His brown and black hair was tousled from the water. 

"Were you swimming? I couldn't see you," Link asked. 

"Not quite. The armor is so heavy and dense I sink to the bottom But the buoyancy adds to the power of my legs so I can jump pretty good distances in water. I was all right." 

Link marveled at the power of that suit. It even had special features in certain situations. "Well, it looks like we're not going anywhere for a while." 

"I know," Mega Man answered. "The current's picked up. It's too strong for us to try and navigate through now." 

Link nodded. He toyed with the idea of trying to snag some of the driftwood that was passing by and constructing a raft, but any wood that came close was swiftly taken away. Plus, the quality would be dubious, and what was he going to tie the raft together with? 

The hero picked out a spot on the rock and got comfy. There would be no telling how long it would be before the river swells wound down. Hopefully it wouldn't be a matter of days, as this rock was no place to get some shut-eye. 

Mega Man stared out from his place. He could go nowhere without Link, he would not survive in this world long without guidance. He thought about going for help, but he didn't know the land, nor how far they had traveled. The current would not allow him to return where he fell in so he could backtrack to the castle. Going further down the river was not an option either as who knew what perils lived deep down in the water. They were essentially stranded. 

"How long does it take for the current to die down?" Mega Man asked. 

"I don't know," Link said. "Could be a while." He dug into his knapsack and pulled out a blue-colored flute. It was made of a fine wood, shaped squat and rounded, like a long egg with a small mouthpiece, not like a standard flute. The finger-holes were situated strangely at first glance, but when Link held it up to his mouth they fit just where his hands were supposed to go. 

He began playing a slow melodic tune. Sustained fluid chords filled the tiny rock, giving the music a rich texture. He began descending into a low tune that reminded Mega Man of the songs of birds in the forest. It was very beautiful, though Rock could only appreciate the aestheticism of it. 

"Where did you learn that?" 

"I taught myself. I picked up this up along my last adventure, from a boy who used it to talk to animals. I played it to the rooster statue in the village and it became a magical bird that could take me around Hyrule in a flash." 

_Right, magical bird,_ Mega Man thought. _It just gets stranger and stranger around here._

Link continued, "I just kept playing it after I got it. Came very naturally to me for some reason." He blew a quick comical chord. "You wanna try it?" Link handed out the flute. 

Mega Man held up his hand. "No, thanks, I can't play." 

"Go on. Try it. See what you sound like." 

"No, really, I mean I can't play. I can't breathe into it." 

"Oh, fine." Link took the flute back. This man said and did the strangest things sometimes. He was an amazing warrior, but his idiosyncrasies and quirks were strange drawbacks. He could fight a slew of moblins, but he didn't have the breath to play a flute. The sun was beginning to set, casting an orange glow over everything. 

"It would be difficult for me to live here," Mega Man said. "Everything here is based on nature. On natural life and it's related components. Biological, in a sense. Things other people have, even their energy. You use it like we use electricity, just taking it for granted. I didn't realize how difficult it might be for me to live here." 

_What did he mean by electricity,_ Link thought. 

"I'm not saying it's primitive," the robot continued. "It's just different from what I'm used to. So different I don't know how long I can last here. What about my power levels, my programming error recovery, regular maintenance, upgrades, memory, parts degradation. I have no known lifespan, so theoretically, I can live forever. But what happens if part of me becomes detached. There aren't any factories here, there's no material I can used, nobody's even discovered titanium yet." He whispered to himself. "What if I become... full? I can't self-delete data from my memory drives. Would I stop remembering things?" He turned back to Link. "There's no one here who could help me. You just haven't advanced past the subsistence stage of civilization. No one really does things for the good of everyone else. Everyone here depends on themselves and themselves alone." 

Link, who was cleaning his flute responded. "That's true. The monsters keep people separated. They have to band together in random places in Hyrule. Kakariko's the biggest village in the countryside. People aren't courageous enough to go out and fight them off. Someday that might change... I hope." 

"We had a system very similar to yours way back in my world's past. We called it the medieval era. People lived on their own on farms, very rarely in villages. Each land had a king, and the center of commerce was in or around the castle. Of course, it wasn't as benevolent as your world. Many kings were corrupt. They used their influence to gain wealth and dominate citizens." 

"Hyrule's always been peaceful, I think. Long as I can remember." 

"I think someday, your world will become similar to mine. Maybe." Now Mega Man was very curious as to how this world would evolve. Would it become a technological utopia or still retain the scattered villas and disjointed people it always had. Many events in his history involved people becoming united over a common enemy or unfavorable conditions. But here, peace was the status quo, so the people had no reason to rise up, and became detached from one another. 

"Maybe," Link responded. "Some day, I'd like to see what other worlds have in store though. I've explored every inch of Hyrule in my travels. It's starting to feel confining. We're somewhat closed off from the world with the mountains and plateaus around us. But I know there're other worlds out there. I want to explore them. See what else is out there. I'm starting to feel claustrophobic here. Like I've done the same thing over and over again." 

Link dug into his bag, pulled out several tube-like sticks, and began attaching them together. "I figure I'd like to go out on the ocean. Maybe find this island of yours. Sounds pretty interesting." 

"Uh, yeah. Interesting. I don't think you'll be able to get there by boat, unfortunately." 

"Well, maybe I'll find something on it. The ocean, it... it's almost like I've got a repoire with it. Besides, what I bring back may help Hyrule in unimaginable ways." 

"What are you doing?" Mega Man asked, referring to Link's activities. 

"Fishing. Don't tell me they don't have fish where you come from." 

"Yes, but they're... fished on a large scale. At least for food. Otherwise it's done recreationally." 

"Well, I can definitely see that." Link said as he strung out his line and cast it into the waters. 

The rushing water took the tiny artificial fish used for bait and played with it like a cat. The bobber rose up and down, tossed about like a tiny boat. They sat there as the sky darkened, hoping to catch a bite for supper. But all Link succeeded in catching was driftwood. 

"Well, we could make a little hut, if we wanted to," Link said glibly. He was quite used to bad fishing days and it was useless to stress out about the lack of catchables. 

Time passed. A blanket of stars soon swept over their heads, casting the two in deep blue light. Mega Man stared at the water, contemplating a life plan for his existence here. Link leaned back and kept his hand on his reel, waiting patiently for a bite, knowing the more time that passed was less time until he hooked something. Nothing but twigs and weeds so far. Suddenly, Link felt a tug on his line. He did not immediately jump as he had become accustomed to false news. Nonetheless he leaned up and took hold of the rod, reeling in the object. 

The reel suddenly stopped. Link's first thought was that his line had snagged on something. The line was extremely far out, almost to the end of the reel. Link noticed the line slack off again and reeled it in. Again it stopped short. 

"What the?" 

"What's going on?" Mega Man asked. 

"I think I'm snagged on something, but I'm not quite sure what. The line keeps going taut and slack every time I reel it in." Link tried it again with the same result. "I can't tell what it is. Feels like it might be big. It's not a fish. I hope." Link tried to pull the line up with the rod, but that yielded nothing. He was restraining his strength so the line wouldn't snap. He was more curious about what it was. "Maybe it's a rock? Or a turtle." 

"It's moving forward," Mega Man suddenly realized. "It's coming towards us. That's why you're reeling up line." 

"But what is it?" 

"What is that?" Mega Man excitedly pointed down the river. A thick mist was rolling down the river, tumbling end over end like an unrolling cotton blanket. 

"A fog?" Link asked. The vapor rapidly enveloped them, cold and clammy. The mass of the river and surrounding land became obscured as they look around bewildered. Link momentarily forgot his rod and began spinning line back in. "It's close whatever it is, I'm almost to the beginning of..." 

Both Link and Mega Man's eyes widened and their jaws dropped as the fog cleared away. Link almost dropped his fishing rod. 

A gigantic wooden sailing ship was navigating down the river, taking up nearly its entire width. Decaying holes were punctured in the upper hull. The sails looked in little better condition than a tattered rag, some sort of ink design long faded away printed on them. The bow was wrapped in rope, frayed at several ends dangling below. Ghostly lanterns swung back and forth on the deck and at the tops of darkened windows and portholes, like the invisible night watchmen. They realized that the ship was about to impact on their little rock and braced themselves to jump out of the way, even though hitting them was inevitable. 

Suddenly, though, it stopped just short of the rock, the bow hovering over their heads. The two stood there, necks craned upwards, staring at the enormous vessel. 

A rope ladder dropped down the side of the ship, landing in front of them. Link and Mega Man looked at it for a second, shrugged, and began climbing up. 

**Next Chapter: Ghost Ship**


	20. Chapter 20: Ghost Ship

_Chapter 20: Ghost Ship_

Link swung his legs over the rail and landed on the deck of an old galleon ship. Link had never seen anything quite like this. A thick massive pole stretched up to the sky holding up the tattered sail. All the standard sailing elements were situated on the ship - barrels and crates tied to the sides of the deck, a large anchor wheel with a chain around it, cannons perched at each side. Everything was so dark and gray, like it had been washed with a giant paintbrush, caked in dust and mold, as if no one had been on this ship in years. In fact, where were the people? A ship this size had to have a crew of more than a handful below deck. And someone had to have let that ladder go.

Mega Man climbed onto the deck. The floorboards creaked eerily below him. "Where is everyone?" he asked. "This is like a ghost ship."

"I think it _is_ a ghost ship," Link said as he paced further onto the boat. He touched the projected handle of the anchor chain. The icy chill sent a shiver up his spine. "I don't like this..." The unnatural stillness gave way to a chilled breeze that swept over the boat.

"Look."

A mist spooled over the top of the cabin, the same as what foreshadowed the vessel, and poured onto the deck, streaming in from the broken windows, up through the cracks in the floorboard. Link backed away from the rising fog, back to the edge of the bow, getting ready to defend himself. The arms of the mist congealed in the center of the deck, swirling together. Pale blue-white translucent forms of people began to emerge from the cloud - ghosts. Link instinctively reached for his sword, but Mega Man held up his hand to stop him. They were dressed in pirate clothing, with bandanas and cutlasses at their sides. They were quite a various bunch, all shapes and sizes, from one brawny guy to another with strange glasses who appeared more bookworthy than seaworthy. The cloud shrank and dissipated as more persons floated out. The ghosts, seemingly languid and tired, distributed in multiple directions, paying no mind to Link or Mega Man. They each spread out over the ship and performed various jobs - turning the anchor crank, scrubbing and mopping the deck, pulling ropes, loading the cannons. But every one of them seemed so tired and listless, performing their duties slowly.

"Excuse me? Are you..." Link started to ask one of the spirits. The ghosts didn't respond at all, just kept turning the crank. He waved his hand through the ghost's body, passing through it like air. "Can you help us? Hello?"

"They don't appear to know we're here," Mega Man said as he examined a scrubber.

"Aye, they do. They simply don't care," came a rough voice.

The two perked up and looked at the center of the deck. Another thick cloud of mist was rolling up from the floor and collecting together. A squat man with a frazzled beard and an eye-patch materialized before the two. He had on a traditional pirate hat and a navy jacket dressed with gold buttons and blue pants.

"Name's Horatio. Pleased to make you acquaintance on this fine night."

"This is a ghost ship, isn't it? Real ghosts?" Link said. "Just like the rumors say."

"Aye, about as real as ye can get without having legs to stand on," he said, passing his own hand in and out of his body to emphasize his point. He sauntered up to Mega Man. "Yer a strange one."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Oh, I'm not blaming ya, laddie. I'm hardly one to judge, eh?" He walked back and forth across the deck, his hands clasped together behind them. "So what brings ye landlubbers out here on this fine night fer sailin'. Conversin' with the fishies?"

"We were overwhelmed by some moblins and had to jump into the river to get away from them," Link responded.

"Ah, the mobbys back, eh. A collection of pig-dogs, they are."

"You know about the moblins?"

"Aye, many years ago they marauded the seas, perched out on islands, rafts, lookout towers, even submarines. You couldn't set foot in the bathtub without three or four of them jumpin' in with ye. Big tough scalawags, dumb as a brick though."

"How long has this ship... I mean?"

"A long, long time... I can't even tell you how long. Time has forsaken this ship." He walked up to the edge of boat, staring up at the moon in the mist. "It seems like centuries. We've been roaming these seas, wandering like a feather on the wind. Forever locked in this infernal sea-faring prison, doing the same duties every night. Been looking for an artifact... a treasure... from those centuries past. A legacy of a great hero. The Pearls of the Triforce."

"The Pearls of the Triforce?" Link said. "I have never heard of those, and I know a lot about the Triforce."

"Do ye now? Know yer history, do ye?" he turned around and quickly walked toward Link. "This land has gone through more changes than a butterfly. I remember a time when water covered all the land. Have ye ever heard of that legend?"

"I've heard rumors. I don't think it would be true though, given the current landscape and the fact that there are no documents about it."

"It's hard to read a document that's logged in salt-water, laddie." He shook his head. "Ignorant of yer own past," he muttered. "Nonetheless. It hardly matters, I'm not yer school-marm."

"Excuse me," Mega Man said, "But you haven't answered our question fully. How is it that you became ghosts?"

"Ah, lad, I wish I could answer that question myself. You see, the Pearls of the Gods were such a treasure of vast riches, said to grant amazing power. Some say it caused a tower to rise from the sea. Others say it led to a kingdom beneath the ocean. We wanted it. Oooh, we wanted it bad. The ultimate treasure. Greater than rupees, greater than gold. The fame, the glory, wealth, power. This whole ship was made of one like mind, to find those pearls. The desire... it consumed us, it led us. It was the real captain of this ship. And we sailed under that captain day after day... after day... after day... soon time started blurring together. I don't... I don't quite remember what happened or how it happened. We just kept going, oblivious to the rest of the world, forgetting even the most basic things, that land even existed, or the comfort of a woman... We just kept going... forever. And now we're this." He spread out his arms indicating himself. "Somehow along the waves, we forgot we were even alive."

He approached his toiling crew members. "My crew is just zombies now, working endlessly like bees, with no purpose or goal." He turned back to Link and Mega Man. "That's left up to me. Somehow, I think that when we find the pearls, the curse will be lifted. I have to believe that. I owe it to them to find the pearls. So we'll wander the waters of Hyrule until we find them. Someday."

"Well, we'll do what we can to help," Link said. "We'll keep an eye out for them." Personally, he didn't believe his story about the ocean covering Hyrule, but he was hearing more and more things he didn't understand these days anyway.

"Ah, we'd owe a great debt to the one who freed us from this curse."

"I promise you. If the pearls exist, they'll be found," Link said determinedly.

"Thank ye kindly for yer offer. Someday we'll find them." He stepped past them and over to the open bow of the ship. "Well, boys, 'tis a fine night for a sail, but the night won't be lasting forever, ye know. Where can I take you boys?"

"We're on a quest to try and find the fourth piece of the Triforce," Link said.

"Fourth piece? There is no fourth piece!"

"Yeah, that's what we said."

"We don't have much to go on here," Mega Man said. "We received a cloth indicating a fourth section but no clues on where it would be found or what would lead to it."

"Seems we've got similar problems, lads," he chortled. "Best ye don't go down my route."

"We don't plan to," Link answered.

"Ah, hmm, Hyrule's full of nooks and crannies. Can't go combing through the land willy-nilly. Have you consulted the fortune tellers of the land?"

"The royal Seer's checked through all the books and prophecies. Didn't find anything."

"How about the village elder?"

"Sahasrala died a short time ago. They haven't chosen the new village elder yet. Even if they did, he would be only a novice."

"Well, we're just up the creek without an oar, aren't ya."

"You could say that," Mega Man said.

"Wait, the Zoras. They might now. They hear everything in these waterways. If there's one people who know the untold parts of Hyrule, it's them."

The captain traversed up and around the cabin, taking his place at the highest point of the ship. "Men! Turn this boat around. Make way for Zora's waterfall. The sails, boys! Avast!"

The men turned away from their repetitive duties and started moving to different stations, pulling ropes, turning cranks, moving below deck and above deck. The sails fluttered suddenly and turned around. The elevation of the boat took a sweeping lean inward as the boat suddenly began revolving to the right. Loud creaking from the torque wrenching the ship could be heard all around. Link held out his hands and planted his feet firmly on the ground to keep from slipping. Mega Man's traction-induced treads did the work for him.

The captain continued barking orders to his men who did work at lackluster speed. Mega Man and Link watched the lands pass from the comfort of the deck.

**Next Chapter: The Zora King**


	21. Chapter 21: The Zora King

_Chapter 21: The Zora King_

"All right, boys, let's go," Zelda said.

Horace gave the nod to his men, five of them in all, that confirmed Zelda's order. They were expecting a fight that might get ugly. After Agahnim's insidious plot to overturn the kingdom of Hyrule they were taking no chances. Traitors to the kingdom met with the harshest punishment. Horace unfastened his sword from his belt.

"Excellent work, your highness."

"Good you think so," she smirked. "I was afraid that it wouldn't be enough to get your attention." The contempt was clearly evident in her tone. Apparently, Horace chose to ignore it.

"An eyewitness account of treason is enough to lead to an arrest. After that, we'll be able to search his belongings, his documents, and take personal accounts."

"Good. I want to do everything possible to ensure his proper capture and arrest. He may lead us to an even higher authority trying to usurp the throne." She snickered. "And you said I couldn't do it."

"I'm sorry?" Horace asked innocently.

"You said I shouldn't be out there doing my own investigation. You said I should just stick to being a princess in my little castle."

"I never said that. I said that maybe it wasn't a good idea. Investigative work takes a lot of time and patience and you didn't demonstrate either of those during this. Going down into his secret meeting was a spectacular risk. You could have easily been captured, assaulted. I don't know anything about this man in black, but he sounds powerful, possibly supernaturally."

"He doesn't matter. Noktwor will lead us to him and the plot will be unraveled. And I will be the one who brought him down. You should all stop treating me like I'm incapable after this."

They reached the entrance to the basement door and stopped. Horace turned to his men. "All right, we expect resistance so work quick and efficiently. You two move to the right, you two to the left. Keep them surrounded."

"Noktwor is quite devious so be on guard. He may try to pull some magic defense like invisibility, but I'll be ready for that." Zelda had been preparing her magic defenses, in preparation for a sneak attack. "Let's go!" She pulled open the door and the soldiers began filing down the stairs. Horace sighed angrily, looking at Zelda. His expression said what he was thinking, that he was none-too-happy with her trying to usurp his leadership, bark his orders for him. Nonetheless he followed suit down the stairs, getting his sword ready for conflict. Zelda hurried down after him, her heart beating from the thrill of excitement. She was so focused on anticipating what might happen she took no notice that her teeth were clenched together, sweat beginning to form on her brow. She turned the corner of the stairwell wall and found the guards had already distributed around the...

...fallen Noktwor and two thieves.

"What... what..." Zelda stammered.

The table and chairs in the room had disappeared, leaving only the stores behind the fences. Horace bent down to Noktwor's body. He was face down, sprawled out on the floor like he had been squashed with one arm up and one down. His eyes retained the classic dead man's gaze. He flipped him over. There were no stab wounds or discoloration on the throat.

"Not sure of the MO. Probably magic death. Poison, fire, something dark."

Zelda had her hands up to her face, eyes brimming with tears. She had gone from determined woman to scared little girl in an incident. "The man in black. It had to be him."

"Could be," Horace said.

"The same with these two, sir," said one of the guards who was inspecting the other corpses.

"I didn't want him dead," Zelda whispered. "Oh, no, what if he heard me? He heard me and got scared and..."

It came to her in a flash. She _was_ impatient and overbearing. She was so dead-set on solving this mystery by herself she forgot the consequences of her actions.

"You see what I told you?" Horace said. "This is why I thought you should stay back from the investigation. Now we have no leads or clues. This man in black has disappeared and we may never see him again."

"Oh, gods, it is my fault."

"You wanted to prove to everyone you were capable, but no one ever thought you were incapable. It just wasn't the role you were designed to play. I'm sure with training you could, but you can't just jump into something and expect to excel at it."

Her eyes watering, she shook her head. She thought she wanted to be treated as an equal, that other people were trying to keep her down, but she really wanted to be treated as better than them, just like a princess would.

"Not to mention," he continued, "Your own life is now in jeopardy. If the man in black knows it was you spying on him he'll likely be after you. If he isn't already. If he did this to his own men, he has no qualms against killing."

"What am I gonna do? What have I done? I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to do. We'll inspect the corpses, see if we can find anything on them. But I doubt we will. This guy is thorough."

Zelda put down her hands. "We need Link. His life is danger too. If he wants the kingdom, or the Triforce, he wants Link too."

"Link could be anywhere. Are _you_ gonna go out looking for him?"

* * *

Link and Mega Man waved goodbye as the ship began moving down the river again.

"Thanks for the ride," Mega Man exclaimed.

"I hope you find what you're looking for!" Link said.

"Aye, take care of yourselves! All right, men shove off!"

The ship sailed smoothly down the river as the sky began to lighten. The galleon began to fade from the light penetrating the ghostly hull. Soon it had disappeared from whence it came, back into the land of legends and rumors.

"I've never seen ghosts before," Mega Man said. "Were they really there? Or was it an illusion?"

"You talked to them. You tell me," he said as he turned to the swampy landscape.

"Have you ever seen ghosts before?"

"Yes, but those were evil spirits," he said, remembering some of the vapors that emerged from the turned up gravestones. This was neither the time nor place for that discussion though. They had a king to see.

As they started through the swamp, Mega Man said, "I read about the Zoras in one of the Seer's encyclopedias. They were once a peaceful people, no?"

"No one told them that," he said, unbuckling his shield. He trudged through the mushy land, sloshing through ankle-deep water, knowing what path to take. The Zoras were unusually quiet along this part. He had taken a route with as few encounters as possible, but this was a little unusual.

"Zoras are monsters," Link said, running through the land. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They've chucked enough fireballs at me to roast the village. They pop in and out of the water too fast to hit so you just gotta avoid them."

"The book didn't mention a Zora King though."

"Well, he didn't attack me. Here."

They stood in front of a large waterfall. Ahead of them was a grassy patch to stand in front of to summon the Zora King. Link jumped into the water and began swimming up to the island. With a grunt he pulled himself up and looked back at Mega Man.

"What are you waiting for? It's all right, there's no current," he said as he shook himself off.

Mega Man shrugged his shoulders and jumped high in the air, raising his arms. He plummeted into the water and sank like a rock. Link watched him go down into the swampy water, concern rising within him. Small collections of bubbles broke the surface.

Suddenly, he could see him rising back up out of the water, bursting forth from it and landing perfectly beside him.

"No problem," he said.

Link cocked his head and the two turned to the waterfall.

"How does this work?" the blue robot asked.

Several little pools of water began swirling in front of them. Small little tridents poked up out of the water, along with green scaly heads. They were Zoras, emerging out of the water through the whirlpools, pounding their spears up and down. The description in the bestiary volume was true. They had wrinkled green scaly skin and membrane-like fins jutting out. Their mouths drooped downwards like groupers, framed with thick orange lips and two small fangs poking out. Their yellow eyes were slit like a demonic cat and they burbled over and over as they rose up, like a chant.

"What's going on?" Mega Man asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen this before. Be ready for anything."

A large group of Zoras now stood in front of them chanting "Ug-a-wah, ug-a-wah, ug-a-wah, ug-a-wah."

A deep blue shadow began fading in behind the waterfall, getting closer until it burst through the curtain. A gigantic Zora slowly waded out from behind the falls, swaying back and forth as his gigantic berth pushed the water aside.

"ERRAROUGH..." he moaned. Link got a whiff of his fishy breath that was none too pleasant. "Who disturbs my slumber. Some puny humans? I should dip you in butter and snack on you for breakfast."

Mega Man armed his plasma cannon, hoping this guy didn't classify as human either.

"We just want to know something," Link piped up. He had to shout above the roar of the falls just to reach the giant's ears.

"You want my Zora flippers, do you? They don't come cheap. 500 rupees for one set they are."

"No, you already sold me a pair. Remember?"

The Zora King squinted down at Link, his slit pupils peering down into Link's face. "Oh, now I remember. The little guy. Fine then. What do you want?"

"We heard that you hear a lot of things through the waterways. I was-"

"We hear everything in the waterways. We're very knowledgeable about the lands of Hyrule."

"Right, and I was wondering if you'd heard anything about a fourth piece of the Triforce? We want to know if it exists."

"I have heard of such a thing," he nodded.

"You have?" Link said, astonished that someone believed him.

"Indeed, I have been much intrigued by the possibilities of its existence. The stories have been heard by few, but they reach deep in the underground. They began just as the moblins appeared, in fact."

"The moblins?" Link gasped.

"Are you serious?" said Mega Man.

"Do you mean they're connected?" Link asked.

"I heard they may, in fact, already be in possession of it," the king said slyly.

Link shook his head. "No, that's not possible."

"From what I hear, it is."

"It's a piece of the Triforce, the golden power. It's supposed to be the element of unity. They would have used it by now. It wouldn't just be sitting there. Surely it can't be inert."

"I'm just telling you what I heard," he said as he turned his nose away snootily.

"How are they connected? How did the moblins get the Triforce piece? What are they planning to do with it?"

"One question at a time, puny human. I know they are the minions of Ganondorf, a part of his army during the imprisoning war and lethal as any Hylian soldier. But Ganondorf was defeated, correct?"

"Of course," Link said.

"Then something is most strange here. But like any other army, they need a base to operate from. It seems that it would be close to where you would see the largest grouping of them."

"The lost woods!" Link exclaimed.

The Zora King nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

"But that's all the way across the kingdom!"

The fishy emperor sighed. "I suppose you can use this waterway, if you really need to get there right away."

A whirlpool spontaneously formed in front of the Zora King, in between the two rows of smaller guard Zoras.

"Thank you," Link said. He gestured to Mega Man to follow him.

"Is this safe?" he asked.

"Safe enough," he said as he dived in.

Mega Man sighed, "When in Rome... or Hyrule."

**Next Chapter: Separation Anxiety**


	22. Chapter 22: Separation Anxiety

_Chapter 22: Separation Anxiety_

_Woo-hoo!_ Link thought as he zipped through the darkened tunnel at breakneck speeds. His arms were clasped to his sides as he zoomed through the waterway like a bullet. Bubbles streamed past him.

Mega Man followed suit behind, flailing his arms, trying to correct his balance and poise so he would stop hitting the sides of the tunnel. The water velocity wasn't made for someone of his mass and density, so he kept bouncing off the bottom of the tunnel. He had tried rolling himself into a ball, but that didn't work so well. Now he was trying to arrange it so he could bounce off the floor with his feet, but not so much he would hit the ceiling. Keeping his yaw straight was the tricky part.

Link saw light coming towards him, the tunnel curving upwards towards it. He burst out of the vortex with a great splash and treaded away from it so Mega Man would have room to emerge. A clump of dirt rolled down the steep sides of the pond.

The blue robot jumped up out of the current... and then sank back down. Trying again to avoid the undertow he set power to his legs and erupted out of the water. He soared into the air, at least three feet above the pond and landed with a splash far away from the vortex.

Again finding himself on the sandy bottom of the pond, he looked up and saw Link's feet swishing back and forth keeping him afloat. Figuring he could cling onto the wall to prevent from sinking, he jumped so he would rise out and grab the sheer side of the pond. However, once he was out, he saw the wall was slippery with mud. Link watched him grab the side and begin slipping off, scrambling his arms, clawing at the rock to stay up, until he thought of the idea to punch his arm though the mud, creating a sort of hook for himself. It worked, Mega Man stayed waist high in the water, secured by his shoulder deep arm in the vertical shore of the pond.

"Well, that was fun," Link said.

Mega Man suppressed any comments he wanted to make about the roller coaster tunnel. "Now how are we gonna get out of here? The walls are too steep to climb."

"Observe." Link pulled out a device from his bag. It was a hollow cylindrical device with a spearhead on one end. "The hookshot." The hero put the hollow end onto his arm and pointed it up at a tree branch close to the pond. The spearhead shot off with a pressurized burst, a long chain attached to it. The spear embedded in the branch and Link flew away, the chain retracting into the device and pulling him along with it. He made it to the spearpoint and jumped down harmlessly onto solid ground.

"Pretty neat, huh?" he asked as he stood over the edge of the pool. He tossed the hookshot down to him and the robot grabbed it in mid-air. "Just put it over your hand. You should feel something like a handle for you to grip onto. And then just aim and pull the trigger."

Mega Man maneuvered his fingers around the cannon so he could slip the device on without releasing his grip on the wall. His arm barely fit into the hole, the metal armor scraped against the metal of the tool. His hand met the handle and he gripped onto it, feeling with his index finger for a trigger. He found it and outstretched his arm to the same tree branch Link had hit. He pulled the trigger and the grappling chain shot out just as it did before. Mega Man thought the device had to work on a spring-pressurized mechanism that gave a tremendous amount of torque and energy. Quite an amazing device really. The hookshot rooted into the wood and sat there. Mega Man waited for the apparatus to start reeling him in.

"You have to let go of the trigger," Link called out.

_Well, he didn't say that, _Mega Man thought, using his precise thought-process of line-by-line instructions. He pulled his muddy arm out from the wall and jumped off.

And sank into the water. The chain spun out more slack to compensate for the user's weight as he sank down again to the bottom. Mega Man thought about how much he was really beginning to hate water as bubbles floated up past his eyes. Still holding onto the hookshot he tried jumping up to lessen the drag on the line. The chain slowly started taking up slack as the pull of the line propelled him close to the wall. Mega Man stuck out his feet and stood on the muddy terrain. Jumping again, he let the hookshot pull him in a little bit more. Now he was doing a sort of reverse-repelling, letting the chain reel him in like a fish. At the surface of the water, Mega Man did a power jump and broke the surface of the water. Climbing up the chain with his free hand as far as he could in the short amount of time it took for the line to swing back over the pond and towards the wall again, he just made it to dry land. Mega Man yanked the spear down from the tree to loosen it and it spun up back into the hookshot.

"Easy as pie," he said, with a slight tone of sarcasm as he handed the hookshot back to Link.

"You must weigh too much," Link said as he replaced his item.

"Obviously."

"Come on, let's go." Link gestured to Mega Man and the two began walking into the nearby forest. The shadowy canopy of the trees obscured the light of day. Small woodland creatures skittered back and forth.

"This is about where I found you," Link said.

Mega Man realized this was true. In a moment of wishful thinking he opened up a comm-link to Roll. Perhaps some cosmic scientific force had allowed a glimmer of the portal to be open for transmission waves. All he received was a communication error. Nonetheless, it was worth a try. As he looked around with his sub-sensors, he couldn't even detect a trace of the portal. Only the bio-rhythms of the trees and animals registered on his scanners. Another ray of hope shot down.

"If I was a moblin base, I would probably be underground," Link muttered. "Some of these tree stumps are hollowed out hiding places, left over from thieves. There's got to be one around here."

"Makes sense," Mega Man said.

"Wait, stop. Do you hear that?" Link said.

Mega Man attuned his aural sensors and picked up repeated noise. He ran through his databanks and tried to match the sound to any similar noises.

"Sounds like... fluttering wings. Thirty feet behind us... and closing," he said.

"Wings... from crows!" he exclaimed as he looked behind and pointed up.

A great flock of monstrously big crows soared out of the tree branches, heading in a scarily organized formation down towards the two. Their sharp talons and beaks flexed in preparation.

"Run!" Link commanded. No way could he fight all those crows. Mega Man followed behind him. He twisted back with his arm cannon and fired backwards into the flock. Most of his plasma shots flew in-between the speedy birds. One hit a blackbird who vaporized in an outline of light.

They continued running between the trees, blocked off by a grove too thick to jump into. The birds began closing in. Mega Man kept turning back and firing his Mega Buster at the birds, trying to thin their numbers down more.

As he turned back, his next step met with nothing but air and he fell forward into a dark pit. "Whoa-" he exclaimed as he went over the ledge, wishing he had watched where he was going. He tried to grip onto the ground, but the dry earth crumbled in his fingers.

"Liiiiink!" he yelled out as he tumbled down into the pit.

* * *

Roll pulled off a sheet metal panel that had been leaning on the wall next to the horizontal capsule. Finally, she found Rush. He had been where she thought. Safe and sound in his maintenance pod. It was his programmed destination when he had lost Mega Man and could not fulfill his orders. Rush stood on all four paws with his eyes closed, locked in standby mode. The capsule was inactive, meaning Rush was essentially just sitting there. Typing into the console attached to the capsule, she overrode the lock and unplugged him from the system. The screen displayed several status-checking lines and gave the OK. The capsule's green tinted hood slid back with a hiss of pneumatic steam. Rush blinked his eyes open and looked around. Finding Roll, he began panting happily.

"Hiya, Rush. Why don't you get out of there?"

Rush stepped out of his capsule and onto the floor, his metal claws clicking on the floor.

"Come on boy," Roll said. "Come on over here." Roll waved her hand to him, looking behind. Rush traipsed along the floor behind her. "We're gonna hook you up to a data log. Won't that be fun, boy?"

"Woof!" Rush barked, knowing a question was asked, but not being able to comprehend its meaning. It was not in his command list so he responded with his default comeback.

Roll typed some commands into a different computer in the room. The screen displayed a smooth GUI interface. She took a cord lying on the panel and hooked one end into the console's input panel. She bent down to Rush and started petting him. "Good boy. This won't hurt a bit."

Her petting was actually pulling back the access panel on his head, covered by an arc of armor acting as something of a helmet. Only Mega Man was capable of interacting with Rush, her interface was not compatible, so this was the only way to access his internal systems. Various ports were wired into this flat section of his CPU. She jacked the cord into one of them and turned back to the video screen. Rush blissfully sat there, either uncaring or unknowing of what was going on.

Roll fired up the program and began downloading Rush's data logs into the central database. At first glance, there was nothing indicative in them. She opted to playback the video recording section.

The main video screen up above the console lit up as video feed began streaming in. The viewpoint was from Rush's eyes, so everything was very close to the ground. She fast-forwarded to the point where Wily made the attack and her and Rock separated. Rush followed Mega Man's battle with Wily's armored tank and the subsequent robot masters. She followed along with the data command log time indices as the action on the screen continued. Rush transformed into jet mode and began zooming around the room for a while, as Mega Man fought the robot masters. Apparently they had some sort of shielding preventing Mega Man's shots from getting through. Then the view shifted around to sailing down a hallway. Mega Man shut the emergency door on Elec Man, and absorbed his power. That had to be the broken robot arm she found in the transporter room.

Mega Man told Rush to leave him at this point. Rush teleported away and landed in another room in the laboratory, one far away from Mega Man. He sat there on the floor, waiting for a call command, but it never came. According to the log, he lost connection to Mega Man shortly afterward. Attempts to reconnect were met with failure, so Rush began walking towards his capsule. Once inside, the automated system came to life, attaching its recharge wires through the floor and the pale-green lid coming down over Rush's eyes.

Once again, a clue to the mystery of Mega Man's disappearance led nowhere. He could have been captured, destroyed, or used the portal. She grimaced in anger at having another dead end and the incapability to look for her brother. She was starting to feel very helpless, coupled with the irony that she was now so much more powerful than she had been.

However, the next step was to find out the significance of Dr. Selkirk's vase. Since she had already scoured the photo archives of Dr. Light and what Dr. Cossack had sent her, she had plenty of material to work with. She brought up the hi-res image she had scanned into the file system earlier, the same one she had sent to Dr. Cossack, and looked at it in the large-screen monitor. Fortunately, with all these materials, she would be able to extrapolate a full 3-D image of the vase.

She zoomed into the section of the image with the vase and sharpened it to unfettered clarity. She told the computer to extract all elements but the vase out of the pictures. Then using all she knew about graphical enhancement, she used the tools of the program to judge based on height, width, light density, shadows, resolution errors, proofing, refraction, and depth perception, along with several lens constitutes to try and resolve a clear, full picture of the vase. The system began processing the data entered, displaying a status bar as it calculated along. Hopefully, this would yield a full picture of the vase, based on the obscure image in the background. The computer finished and showed several cross section images of the sides, top and bottom of the vase. Roll inspected it and was pleased with the results. Inputting a few more commands, she used the modeling algorithm to construct a fully 3-D model of the vase she could look at.

Roll played with the coordinates, rotating the 3-D vase around, looking at its pattern. There were three lines at the top rim and three down by the base. Unlike other vases, the middle pattern did not consist of pictures or symbols. This one was covered with horizontal jagged, zig-zag lines, none of them symmetrical. Very unusual for a decorative vase. Roll zoomed into the top and tried to follow one of the lines and discovered that the lines were, in fact, one continuous strand that spiraled down the length of the vase. The space between the lines and actual width of them made it seem like they were separated. Now that she knew this, she tried to look at the pattern in the lines, trying to see if they yielded some sort of mathematical meaning. All the zig-zags were made of the same length, so there was no information found in that aspect of the segments.

Roll tilted her head and thought about something. The design of the lines seemed to harken back to something she had learned some time ago. Pulling up the Hypernet access she called upon the referrer and put in the beginning snippet of the line segment to cross-reference. The program executed its commands and came up with several results. She scrolled through, looking for anything that might click as to the connection between the lines and something of value...

And found it. The graphic she sent in matched what was called a binary pulse pattern. It was used during the early days of computing to represent the electrical patterns of a computer network communication across old-style transmission lines.

In other words, the line was a binary number.

Binary was so archaic it was no wonder she had missed it initially. Computer code made of ones and zeroes, it was used back when computers mostly consisted of transistors, now replaced by revolutionary new computing components that allowed logarithmic increases in advancement. The meaning was not lost on Roll however. It meant that something of Dr. Selkirk's used that binary pattern. Dr. Wily had to have wanted the vase for that reason. What that reason was escaped her at the moment, though. However, she knew that it had something to do with Dr. Selkirk's work, some crucial piece, something that probably had no business in Dr. Wily's hands. One madman's work connecting with another's - a scary thought.

**Next Chapter: Dungeons**


	23. Chapter 23: Dungeons

_Chapter 23: Dungeons_

Mega Man found himself lying on his back, deep within a realm of darkness. The high fall had disoriented his sensors and he recalibrated them as he stood back up with a groan. The light was coming down from the opening where he had fallen, casting him in a peculiar natural spotlight.

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs he called out, "Link? Link!" He waited a bit. "Are you there? Link?"

No answer. Something may have happened to him. Perhaps the crows nabbed him. Or he could have been able to fend them off. Nonetheless, Link wasn't there. Mega Man was somewhere under the lost woods and he had to get out of there. Jumping out of the pit wasn't an option, much too high. He had no rope to climb out and no way of making a ladder either. He had experience in situations like this before and there was always some alternate path. He felt around the walls, using infra-red vision to navigate around the chasm. His sensors picked up an unusual outcropping of dirt and roots. He touched the projection and it gave way, falling inward. A door opened up for him and he eagerly passed through it.

He now found himself in the middle of a man-made corridor, made from tile and brick. Torches lined the walls at regular intervals. Archeological designs were inked on the walls, apparently made with no special meaning in mind. There were two paths for him to take, east and west. Both ends tapered down to darkness. Neither way appeared better than the other. He needed to find the one that would lead him back above ground.

An abrupt squeaking sound alerted him. It was similar to a rodent from his world, but much deeper and larger. He set his arm cannon ready just in case.

Sets of glowing red eyes blinked open in the darkness above. Bats.

The eyes flipped over and began flying at him, shrieking like demons from hell. They were twice the size of normal bats, with fangs and hooked wings. They swooped in and began fluttering around Mega Man's face, picking at his metallic shell, at the synthetic skin on his face. The robot flailed his arms, trying to keep them away, not wanting to hurt the innocent animals outright.

"Ackk, get away, get away," he shouted. The bats continued their assault. Mega Man opted for an easier route and scurried down the hall to the right, his vision partially obscured by the leathery wings beating down on him. He shut them to protect his eyes and held out his hand in front of him before he ran into something. Out of a brief blink, he saw a door just ahead. He put his legs to maximum output and began outrunning the bats. As soon as he opened the door he curved around smoothly and shut it just as the bats caught up. He could hear the soft impact as the rodents hit the door, scratching, trying to win their prey. Mega Man relaxed and turned around.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he just ran into a dead end. This unusual room was walled in with gray-green brick. There were four armored statues, two on the east wall, two on the west, and a wide full-length mirror at the end of the room, in which Mega Man could see his semblance. The robot looked around for an alternative means of escape as he moved forward. Moving back out the door probably wasn't too safe - those bats were voracious. They would be ready to strike as soon as he walked out the door. Of course, if there was no way out in here, that could pose a problem. He could dig out, maybe, depending on the strength of the brick. Or he could go back and face the bats, maybe engineer some sort of strategy so they weren't all on him at once.

Mega Man noticed behind the mirror there was a large painting hanging on the wall, stretching to the ground, almost like a mural. In it was some sort of round, cowled creature with yellow eyes and four hands, each holding a torch, spread out like a star. Each of the torches had a different colored flame - red, blue, green, and yellow.

Something set Mega Man's bewilderment off. This was obviously not a conducive environment to be displaying valuable art. Plus the picture's aesthetic value was nil, at best. Something about this room wasn't clicking with him. The knight armor's, the mirror, the painting. Something was really screwy about this.

Mega Man trodded back in front of the painting and gazed at his reflection. Maybe there was some sort of answer in here. But what was the question. The question was how to get out of here. This room offered something in that way, either some sort of passageway or something else. It would have to be something valuable or else it wouldn't be encoded like this.

Encoded. That was it. The problem wasn't to find an answer, it was to find a solution. The materials he needed were in this room, he had but to activate them the right way. And the key was in the painting. Mega Man turned around to the knight statues. They were holding their cupped hands out as if they were holding something... or waiting to hold something. He turned back to the mirror. If he stood just right, the angle of the mirror and the placement of the statues' hands would show whatever the knights were holding in roughly the same position as it would in the painting. But where would he find torches?

There were some out in the hall, but they didn't match up with what the creature in the art piece was holding, and neither were they colored. Mega Man inspected the mirror. It was framed in gold or brass casing with a small skull-head emblazoned at the top. It looked like it belonged in some swashbuckler's quarters. It was also in the same dimensions as the painting, further proving his hypothesis. But how would he get the tools to solve the puzzle?

He looked around the back and saw four torches in place-holders, unlit and ready for use. Excellent. Mega Man took one and placed it in the hands of the nearest knight. Now he had to figure out how to light it, though. He had no fire weapons, that would have come in handy now. Nor anything to strike a flame to. Mega Man could see how this puzzle was meant for the people of this time. They would have elements for making fire with them nearly all day, especially adventurers like Link.

A plasma shot might generate enough heat. It might also disintegrate the torch. It was a risky maneuver, but he was seeing fewer and fewer choices, short of opening up his heating coil. He would have to aim his arm cannon just above the wick so the shot would just graze it. Plasma was highly volatile and hard to control in its state, much like fire. Mega Man did the appropriate calculations, held out the torch and his arm cannon at the precise number of degrees he thought it needed and fired. The shot flew in the air, singing the torch and hitting harmlessly against the wall, leaving a scorch mark. The torch, after a spark, lit a brilliant purple. Success! Mega Man put the torch into the knight's waiting hands and grabbed the other torches.

Obviously since there was already a burning flame, there was no need to repeat the experiment. He held each of them to the lit torch and they each ignited into luminescent red, yellow, and blue respectively. Mega Man couldn't find any reason why the similar torches would be burning different, and such unusual colors, but now was not the time to find out. With the torches in place, each knight holding one, he stood in front of the mirror.

There were four torches in place, one in each corner of the mirror, burning brightly. But nothing was happening. Mega Man checked back at the painting. Maybe the colors needed to correspond with where they were in the creature's hands. He went to work replacing the torches, switching them around until they matched what was in the picture. When he was finished he stood in front of the mirror again. Nothing was happening.

This was strange. Maybe he was going about this wrong, using the wrong logic. Whoever built this room was from a world where they didn't think like he thought. All Mega Man could do was process the problem logically and find a best solution. And he thought he had. The torches were exactly parallel to the creature, in the same order. They looked like that was where they should go. The picture should have been a mirror image.

No, not a mirror image. That was the problem. He was looking at the painting in the mirror. But if the picture was reflecting in the mirror, the image would be reversed. Mega Man switched the torches from one side of the room to the other, setting the torches to what they would be if the creature were holding them in front of the mirror itself. As he placed the last torch in the knight's hands he heard a click.

He turned to the mirror, thinking something had unlocked. Within the reflection, the ghostly figure from the painting was holding up the four torches. But this was real... and floating behind Mega Man.

The robot quickly turned his head to look at it, but the ghost was not behind him, not outside the mirror. He turned back to the reflective pane. The mirror had vanished, disappearing with vaporizing puffs of smoke. In its place a small treasure chest remained. The painting itself somehow spontaneously unhinged from the wall and fell face forward, revealing a door.

A little off-put by the strange encounter, he approached the treasure chest and took a look inside. There was a shiny silver metal key lying in the bottom. Just in case, Mega Man took it, not really knowing why he would need it, but thinking it would be best. Certainly wouldn't want to be kept out of a locked door by a key he had the opportunity to get before. Pocketing the object, he opened the door and continued on.

* * *

Link hunkered down in the tree trunk as the birds passed overhead. They apparently didn't see him duck in here so he kept silent until he was sure they had passed. His eyes were kept skyward, looking for an indication of the birds. The trunk was damp and cold, keeping him shrouded in shadow. He thought he should have felt cowardly, but his self-preservation instincts justified his actions. The sound of wings flapping and their calls eventually faded away. He knew Mega Man hadn't made it as far as him and was wondering where he had gone, hopefully not attacked by the crows.

The green-clad hero emerged from the trunk and looked around. The birds had flown away and sky had become cloudy, darkening the forest.

"Mega Man?" he called out quietly. He began retracing his steps back to where they had entered. "Mega Man? Where are you? Are you here?"

Walking back down the forest, he tried to remember where he had stepped, what path he had taken when running from the crows, difficult to do in a panic. He found a pit in-between two trees that he had gone around before, wondering whether Mega Man had done the same. Part of the grass on the ledge had been ripped off, indicating that someone had fallen down and tried to grab the edge. Link feared for the worst.

"Mega Man! Mega Man! Are you down there?" he called out.

The pit was too far down for him to jump safely. He had no rope to climb down with either. Link wondered if Mega Man could even survive a fall down that far. He could be lying down there right now, unconscious, bleeding, or dead. Maybe he could use his hookshot to repel down there, but the mechanism didn't work that way. Kakariko village was nearby. Maybe he could get some help there.

"Why if it isn't Sir Link," a voice said.

Link turned around and saw an old woman walking towards him. The same old woman he had taken shelter from earlier. She was still dressed in a tattered gray robe and carried a pile of firewood.

"Hello again,"

"You gave me such a start after you had left. I was wondering what had happened to you, perhaps the moblins had come to capture you."

"No, I had a rather important dream I thought I should follow up."

"Next time, you should really wait until morning before heading out on a whim like that. I had planned on giving you a hero's surprise when you woke up."

"Oh? What was that?"

"Oh, a big breakfast. One worthy of someone such as yourself." The old lady strutted up next to Link and peered down into the hole. "Lose something down there?" she asked.

"Possibly. I need to get down there in a hurry. A friend of mine might be down there."

"Oh, really. Then if you'll allow me to repay the kindness you showed me..." She put down her firewood and stepped behind the tree, pulling out a long ladder behind it. "I've hidden this here to get down myself."

"What do you use it for?"

"Oh, for storing things, treasures, the little money I have. You never know when thieves will come back. They might still be hiding behind the trees, ramming you and snatching what they can."

Link nodded in agreement. He helped the woman by taking the other end of the ladder and lowering it down into the hole. Just as they were about to run out of ladder it hit bottom. Link immediately started climbing down, and the old lady followed him.

At the dirt bottom, Link jumped off the ladder. No sign of Mega Man anywhere, however there was a doorway opened up. He cautiously cantered in and found himself in the middle of a temple hallway. Strange that this would be under the lost woods. The old lady snuck out from behind him.

"Looks like your friend got away," she said.

Link looked back and forth at the two ends of the hallway. "Yeah, but which way did he go?"

The woman stooped close to the ground. "The footprints seem to indicate he went that way," she sped off with her nose practically rubbing the floor.

Link looked down and didn't notice any footprints. However, the lady was already running off in an easterly direction. "Hey, wait," he called out. He began running after her.

He followed her down the corridor at a fast jog. She was surprisingly fast for an old woman. She stopped at a door as Link caught up with her.

"He must have gone in here," she said. "Open it."

Link opened the door and walked in. It was a large room with four pillars standing around a colored tile.

"Where is he?" Link said as he entered the room.

"Hmm, he must have gone in the secret entrance."

"There's a secret entrance?" Link asked as he stepped into the room, looking around.

"Yes," she said, still poised near the door. "Try hitting that tile in the center of the room."

Link looked back at her, standing next to the slightly red raised tile in the middle of the pillars.

"This one?" he asked.

"Yes, that one, press it."

Link stomped his foot on the tile. The four pillars began regressing into the floor, making the horrible grating noise of stone scraping against stone. Link could see the tops about to reach floor level and noticed they were holding some sort of object on them. As they reached eye level he realized they were red Cyclops statues. He whipped around to the old woman, who was standing in the doorway.

"Ha, ha, ha. Remember, Link, no good deed goes unpunished."

As soon as the pillars finished going down the Cyclops' slowly opened their eyes as Link's head darted around frightened.

"Goodbye, Link," she said. "Spill lots of blood for me now." She shut the door and locked it.

The cyclops' eyes opened wide. They began charging Link.

**Next Chapter: Karma**


	24. Chapter 24: Karma

_Chapter 24: Karma_

Mega Man closed the door on another room, having finished another puzzle. It was taking all his ingenuity to make it through this dungeon, needing to see ahead, solving problems, navigating thorough unusual hallways and rooms fraught with perils and traps. Only the keen mind could take this temple, only a courageous mind would try.

And still he hadn't been able to find the decent exit. Surely there had to be a way out of this forsaken place. The purpose behind all these traps and pitfalls was meant to lead somewhere. Something of value was at the other end of the dungeon. Mega Man just hoped it was the door.

This room was just a simple hallway leading to another door at the end of it. For some reason, Mega Man sensed something ominous beyond the door. Of course, for a robot to have an intuitive sense was ludicrous, but somehow Mega Man felt it, maybe because of all the small hallways that led to robot masters, it was just an established sense of foreboding in his recognized patterns.

It was, however, the only way to go from here. So he proceeded to the door and tried to open it. Unusually, it was locked. The door had a keyhole though, meaning it could be unlocked. Mega Man took out the key he had snatched earlier from the treasure box and inserted it into the hole, thankful he was observant enough to notice it before. The key fit and he opened the door. He entered the room, looking around. There were actually tables and chairs in here and... moblins.

A ton of moblins.

* * *

The four gaping wide eyes of the cyclops' closed in on Link.

"Guys, can't we just talk about this?"

The monsters continued approaching him.

"No? Guess we have trouble seeing eye to eye!"

Mustering his strength he flipped backward over one and spun around, striking it with his sword. The sword clanged loudly against the rock hard covering as Link cursed his stupidity. The surface armor would be invulnerable to any of his weapons. One of the cyclops slowly rolled over, knocking the sword out of the way and punched him in the chest, bashing him across the room. Link grunted as he fell against the stone as two of the fiends lowered their heads and charged him. Link opened his eyes in surprise and dived out as they butted heads with the wall.

"You guys mean business," he said to the tough opponents. Another monster approached him and swung his arm down in a chop. Link dodged out of the way and swiped his sword along his midriff, creating an eerie scraping sound. It had no effect on the rock monster who continued thrusting his fists out at him. Link tried to stab his sword into the eye - the vulnerable point - as quick as he could before the others could gang up on him. But the statue blocked every thrust Link tried to make with its stone arms, not even scratching the surface. Link had never fought an enemy so adept at battling, it was beginning to wear him out.

"Just... let me..." Link grunted as he parried with the cyclops, being methodically pushed backwards by his advances. Finally, the monster grabbed the blade with his bare hand as Link stopped stunned by the quickness of it. It looked at the blade oddly for a second, then yanked it out of Link's hands, throwing it far from Link's reach.

Link scrambled away from the monster and dug in his backpack for something else to use. Bottles, no. Magic powder, no. Lantern, no. Magic rods, no, he had used up all his magic. Dammit, why was all his useless stuff on top. He truly needed a bow and arrow to defeat them properly. Or some ranged weapon would do. He finally found the boomerang and grasped in his hand. Backed up to a raise on the wall he threw it at the nearest cyclops, hitting him square in the eye. The monster grunted softly and flailed his arms in the air. His large eyelid furrowed and he came sadistically closer to the hero. He tried chucking it at another one, who stopped for a second and then kept his pace. It was doing nothing but angering them.

Link frantically searched in his backpack, looking for anything else that would help him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flying fist coming at him. He narrowly dodged it just as it hit the wall, creating spider-cracks. Link tried running down the wall, but another fist smacked the wall right in front of him. Link had his back to the wall as the cyclops began closing in.

Suddenly the wall across the room burst open in a cloud of dust and debris spilled out. Everyone turned to see what had happened, why the wall collapsed spontaneously.

An unseen pair of hands holding a bow and nocked arrow rose up from the dust. The arrow released and flew through the air into one of the cyclops' eye. It groaned loudly as it tried to pull out the arrow embedded in his huge orb. The hands rapidly fired more arrows, each one aimed true and hit true. Link took the chance to roll away and grab his idle sword while the monsters tried to regroup. He shuffled over to the cloud of dust and saw Zelda emerge from the cloud.

"Zelda!" he exclaimed.

"Surprised?" she said with a smile. She turned to the monsters and pulled out four more arrows from the quiver on her back. "Here's looking at you, kid."

She switched her grip on the bow to horizontal and fired. The four arrows hit the cyclops at the same time, knocking them over and defeating them in a puff of smoke.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," Link said. "How in the world did you find me?"

"Fairies like to gossip, did you ever notice that?" she smiled.

"They never said much to me," Link said.

"They told me you went to the magic shop, so I went there, and the fairies there told me you jumped in the river, so then I went to the Zora domain and the fairies there told me you jumped in the waterway to the lost woods, so I came here and the fairies said you jumped down a pit. I swear they must have some sort of news network," she said as she shook her head.

"Wow, nice timing. Please tell me you have a magic potion. I'm out."

Zelda fetched a bottle from her bag and handed it to him. He began to drink the green liquid eagerly.

"Noktwor is dead," she stated simply.

"What?" he said as he wiped his mouth.

"We found him in the basement. He was having a secret meeting with some members of the thieves guild and a man in black. We bet that's who he was working for."

"The man in black?"

She nodded, "I think he could have been a sorcerer or something, I felt a very evil aura from him, but I didn't get to look at his face."

"He's probably the one who tried to kill me in the middle of the night."

Zelda nodded. "That's why I had to find you as soon as I could."

"Well, I think they've also got another member. That old woman who gave me shelter just betrayed me, locked me in this room with the monsters to kill me. She said to try and spill as much blood as I could."

"You can't trust anyone these days. Where's Mega Man?"

"Mega Man!" Link exclaimed, suddenly feeling stupid for forgetting his friend. "We've got to find him. He's down here somewhere, he's probably lost, if he hasn't already fallen in a trap. Come on!"

* * *

"Eep," Mega Man uttered.

The moblins roared in battle rage and picked up their arms - spears, swords, clubs, maces, and whatever else was lying around, including chairs. There had to be more than fifty moblins running at him right now. Mega Man took up his Mega Buster and fired a plasma shot at the closest one. He disappeared as the blast shot through him.

He continued blasting the moblins one by one as they came towards him. In the back, a moblin soldier stood on a pedestal, holding a flat pink crystal in one hand and waving his other hand over it while mumbling some sort of incantation. With a shout, he threw the crystal over the crowd of moblins scattered throughout the room. The crystal exploded in a shower of pink sparkles, falling like a slow rain of stars over the crowd. The moblins stopped attacking and waited for the shower to envelop them completely, looking up as if suddenly distracted by the shiny objects. Mega Man ceased as well, wondering what sort of strange effect this was.

Suddenly, the moblins roared again and restarted their assault. Mega Man fired a double shot at a moblin with a club, but the plasma bullets absorbed into a glowing shell that suddenly popped up around him, distributing away as tendrils of lightning.

"Oh no," Mega Man said. He started charging up his shot, wishing his charge would go faster. One of the monsters plowed up the steps in the midst of this. Mega Man kicked him in the head with his large boot, knocking him backwards into the crowd. Apparently, the shields only blocked his plasma shots. He released the charged blast on the fallen moblin. The energy fizzled out on the shield with no effect.

"Where did you guys get these things?"

Two moblins charged Mega Man with swords. Mega Man held up his hands and caught them in the air. Jumping up he kicked both of them in the stomach, propelling them backwards. The end result was Mega Man falling on his back, hitting the edge of the stair harshly.

Opening his eyes from his fall, he saw an axe swinging down from above on his face. He quick rolled to the side just as the blade hit stone. Spinning upright, he stepped back

"Let's try this, then." Mega Man accessed his inventory and switched weapons to the Thunder Beam. His color washed from blue to green-gray. He fired the cannon and a massive wave of electricity shot out in multiple directions. The moblins recoiled from the blows, some were knocked out by direct hits, others endured the hit and kept coming. Mega Man darted his buster back and forth, rapidly firing shots of the Thunder Beam at the enemies, barely keeping them off his toes.

"Arrgh, why won't you die?" He said as he fired point blank range at the moblins. Some of the weaker ones began vaporizing as they were supposed to when defeated. Finally, their shields were starting to lose energy from the powerful blast.

Mega Man fired shot after shot. Suddenly, nothing. He tried again. Nothing came out of his arm cannon. He had run out of energy for his Thunder Beam. The color of his armor automatically switched back to normal blue, as the moblins realized he had stopped firing. Mega Man's only recourse was hand-to-hand combat, something he was not programmed for. His entire life he had spent fighting with his arm cannon, firing energy blasts as the robots did. His back was to the corner though, and desperate times called for trying to remember all the martial arts he had seen in his life.

He stepped back and assumed a battle stance. "All right, you wanna fight. Let's fight," he said as he held up his hands in a boxer stance.

The moblins came at him in a circle, jangling their metal weapons. He started by side-kicking the moblin nearest him in the gut. The monster fell backwards as Mega Man advanced forward and rapidly punched one to his left in the face with a series of quick jabs. A flail swung around him from behind, wrapping around his neck, the spiked ball bashing against his helmet. Mega Man held onto the chain clasped around his neck as he was lifted off the ground by the beast. Using his strength, the robot broke the chain, and stomped on the beasts foot. He howled in pain as Mega Man elbowed him in the stomach and flipped his massive girth over his shoulder. He tumbled into the crowd of moblins, knocking some of them back.

From his side, a monster jabbed forward with his sword, slicing across Mega Man's belly. Mega Man's eyes burst open in shock, time seemed to freeze for an instant. His armor had never been penetrated before, the spell must have made their weapons harder as well. Fortunately the injury had only scratched the surface of his protective covering, causing only a scar.

Mega Man spun around and roundhouse kicked the offending moblin square in the jaw. The disorientation from the hit encouraged the moblins to become more aggressive. A gigantic spiked club came down on him. He moved to the side, but the bludgeon succeeded in hitting his right shoulder, causing a massive jostling of his internal servos. A red warning flashed in his head, telling him the processing power flow to his arm shot down to 25. Mega Man noticed this as he tried to block away an incoming spear, his left hand succeeded in knocking it away, while the right was trying to catch up.

A moblin took advantage of his exposed body and sliced his halberd clean through his backside. Frayed metal edges splayed outward as the sparks of friction flew. Mega Man arched his back in pain as he felt wires severed and chips damaged. Systems rerouted to try and compensate for the damage, but he was never meant to have to deal with internal physical injuries. His central CPU began showing massive errors and his body had enough trouble trying to correct them and keep normal tasks going, let alone trying to defend himself. Mega Man fell to his knees and suddenly felt very tired.

The end had come sooner than he expected.

**Next Chapter: Man Down**


	25. Chapter 25: Man Down

_Chapter 25: Man Down_

Zelda and Link found the door down a short hallway. "He had to have gone in there," Link said. "He made it this far."

Both of them were hoping against hope that Mega Man hadn't taken some obscure hidden path and ended up in the bowels of the dungeon, nor had they missed his broken body in a bottomless pit. The path down the hall led them in a straight line down to this small corridor. Link and Zelda rushed down the hallway, ready to burst open the door. Link grabbed the doorknob and pushed it inward.

"It's locked!" he exclaimed with a quiver in his voice. "You didn't pick up a key when you were in here, did you?"

"No," Zelda said.

Link began slamming his shoulder against the door, trying to use brute force to open it, a tactic that never worked, but still had to be tried.

"I've got something better though," she said and pulled out a bomb from her pack.

"That won't work. The door is metal," Link said dejectedly.

"It won't work on the door. It will work on the doorknob." She took out some rope as well and started tying the blue orb to the doorknob. It hung just under the handle, the wick grazing against it. Zelda loped back down the hallway as Link followed close behind. Once she had reached midway she pulled out her bow and arrow and shot the wick. The string became alight with fire and burned quickly down.

"Cover your ears," Zelda said as she turned away.

A massive explosion rocked the hallway. Smoke billowed down the passageway in great puffs. Link turned back and saw the doorknob had been blown to smithereens.

"Precise explosive targeting," Zelda said. "Let's go."

Link rushed ahead with a scream and kicked the door down. It fell easily inward as Link landed on the set of stairs. He saw a considerable collection of moblins circled around something in the corner.

"Zelda!" Link called out.

"Got it," she said, and started pulling out arrows and firing them rapidly. The moblins disbanded and started after the two as Link dived in and rushed the crowd with his sword. He screamed a primal battle cry and began slicing through beasts left and right. He blocked their weapons coming at him easily and spun around in a circle, blowing charged magic energy out in a wave. The moblins were shifted back as Link continued his ferocious assault. Zelda continued giving backup as moblins surrounded Link. The power of the sword and arrow kept them at bay.

"That's right, get closer, you monsters. Have some of THIS!" The light in the room seemed to darken as Link stretched his sword to the sky. A thick column of lightning streamed out of the blade. Link screamed as he spun around and around, shooting the lightning out like spider legs, blowing the moblins back, vaporizing many of them. The sheer power of the lightning was enough to blow through their defenses and reach even those in the back.

Their numbers diminished, the moblins scattered and flew out of the room by the back door. Link fell to one knee as Zelda covered him with her bow and moved to his side.

"All you all right?" she said.

"Good thing you gave me that potion," he responded. He turned and saw what the moblins had been gathered around.

Mega Man lay there down on the ground, his head tilted to the side, as if he was all tuckered out. His armor contained numerous scratches and indentations, torn apart in some places. Link and Zelda approached him, looking down on him like parents over a sleeping child.

Mega Man opened his eyes and looked up at his cohorts. "ErroR... LiNK... Need... helP..."

Link looked at Mega Man's wounds. "What... what..." He moved closer to Mega Man's body. The weapons had penetrated his armor, but what was inside didn't make sense to him. The metal had been torn outward, so he should have been able to see skin or blood, but instead there were abundant pieces of metal and green boards with thousands of smaller pieces on them. Metal rods and gears filled his body. His armor was a hollow shell, filled with these parts.

"What... is this? Zelda, look," he gestured to her. She came over and looked at the same thing Link was seeing.

"I don't know," she said. "Link..."

"I... It's not a wound... it's... what is it?"

"Link, we can't worry about that now. He needs our help. Let's get him back to the palace."

"I can see right through him."

"Come on," she prodded. She started by picking up his feet and hoping Link would follow suit.

Link looked sadly at Mega Man's fallen silent body for a second and picked up Mega Man's shoulders. They began carrying him out of the hall.

* * *

It had been nearly half an hour now. Link nervously paced around the hallway like an expectant father. Mega Man was in the room on the other side of the closed door, where all the wizards, fortune-tellers, and doctors of the castle were huddled around him, trying to diagnose his illness. The finest minds in the castle were working on him now. That should have set his mind at ease, but despite all he'd tried, he felt responsible for Mega Man's well-being

Thoughts raced through his mind at galloping speeds. The reality had finally hit him. All his unusual behavior wasn't just the result of a different world, it was the result of a different form of life. What he had seen defied all explanation. Even magic couldn't be used as an excuse, because Mega Man was not magical. Somewhere along the lines, Link had just stopped seeing him as a stranger and started seeing him as a fellow hero.

Zelda came down the hall and saw Link. She bit her lip tensely. "You're still here?" she said. "You should go wash up. Dress your wounds."

"I'm not going anywhere until they tell me what happened and how it could be fixed."

"Link, there's nothing you can do about it now. We just have to trust them in there that they can come up with a solution. Standing out here worrying about it isn't going to change anything." She put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

Link sighed and turned away. Zelda kept her hand on him. "All along I thought he was just another human with really good metal armor. I thought maybe he had some sort of magic in it that allowed him to do those sorts of things. I came up with every excuse in my head of why he didn't do the things that normal people did. Now I find out he really can't do any of those things - he can't eat, he can't breathe. Why did I just ignore all the signs?"

"I don't know. He isn't like anything we've ever seen before. You couldn't really know what he was, you had to try and interpret it the best you could."

"He did all these things that weren't human. He had an arm that shot... lightning pellets. I don't even know what they were. Energy or something. There's so much I really don't know. And he's been by my side for so long. How could I not know any of this by now?"

"You weren't the only one. We all selectively heard what he was trying to tell us. None of us knew what he was talking about half the time. The things he said were so unusual we just chalked it up to his bizarre origins. One look at his clothes and you just knew he was different. Being a... a robot was natural to him, he never saw a need to volunteer the information. Coming through a portal in the middle of the woods gives you a little leeway to act a certain way."

"No, we were just too ignorant. Mega Man was right. Everyone here just looks out for themselves and themselves only. We only care about survival and profit. None of us are trying to better ourselves or our land. We've just fallen into a rut. Everyone thinks the status quo is great, so no one is trying to get anything better. If we were more advanced we could save him."

"We don't know if he can't be saved yet. Don't talk about him like he's in the grave."

"We don't even know if he goes to a grave! What the hell is he, Zelda? How do we fix him? Potions won't work, fairies won't work. He doesn't have organs to be repaired. He doesn't have a soul. I want to save him, but who would have the slightest idea how? It's like a monkey trying to build a house." Link threw up his hands. "I don't even know if he can die. What if he's locked in that state forever, with that jittery speech and his body all banged up. What if he stays that way forever like a retarded child? What are we supposed to do then?"

"Link, calm down. Please. We're going to do all we can for him, but you're not doing any good, you're making us all nervous. We're looking to your for guidance. You're the one who knew him best. We're going to need your help, if you want him to survive."

"Zelda, I don't know if I do. Maybe he's better off this way, rather than drafted into fighting for Hyrule, being the same as me. Gawked at by locals, prodded by scientists, hated by others. What kind of life would he have here? Not being able to partake of the simple joys of life like music and eating... and breathing, even. What if... what if he's a monster?"

There were no words. Zelda put her arms around Link's body as he tucked his head into her chest. Link just tried to breathe in and out and not think.

* * *

Bill knocked on the front door, which was already open.

"Hello?" he asked.

The blond robot was sitting in a chair, perched at a console. Two jacks were plugged into either side of her head through her ears. Bill didn't know much about humanoid robots, only the little worker drones they set him up with. He wasn't sure if interrupting one was gonna result in a system crash or data interruption or whatnot.

"Hello? Miss Roll?" he again tried to rouse her attention as nicely as possible. He walked into the computer room, a bit intimidating for him, and approached her. She had her eyes shut like she was deeply concentrating on something. The monitor in front of her was zipping though lines of information too fast for him to understand what they were. He looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe Roll was in the computer, and had to be talked to that way.

"Roll? Miss Roll?" he waved his hand in front of her face to try and provoke a reaction.

"Almost finished," she said.

The mustached man jumped back in surprise at her sudden statement. He guessed there was nothing for him to do but wait, as she said.

In a flash, Roll opened her eyes. The computer screen froze. "Yes?" she said sweetly as she reached under the machine.

"Um," Bill said. "The security system's back up at full. Internal and external. We've also wired a long-range radar that'll alert the armed forces if anyone tries a stunt like that again."

"Excellent." She pushed a button and a transportable diskette popped out of a slot. She began writing on it with a nearby marker as he was talking.

"We're about ready to pack up now. We're going to leave the mettools and a few others here, they've got some work to finish up, but they'll come back to us once they're finished. But all us humans are going home, unless there's anything else you need."

"No. Thank you for your assistance. On your way out, please set this on the living room table. Make it noticeable for anyone coming in."

She handed the diskette to him. The label read 'VASE RESEARCH'. "Oh sure, no problem," he said. "Is this what you were doing before?"

"I was finalizing and downloading all my research before you came in here. I feel now I am ready."

"Ready? For what?"

"To go after Wily."

**Next Chapter: System Failure**


	26. Chapter 26: System Failure

_Chapter 26: System Failure_

Link and Zelda were startled as the large double door started with a deep click. An old wizard pushed open the entryway with both hands. He came up to the two as the others who were in the room passed them, muttering to themselves solemnly. The expression on his face was doleful and sad. He had a long droopy gray beard and a cap that was so long it ran down his back. His black robe trailed with him.

Link and Zelda released their embrace as he came up. His eyes told the tale already.

"We've done all we can do for him," he said in a raspy, weathered voice. "We've never seen anything like it. The man has more moving parts in him than an hourglass. He even tried to talk us through it, but we simply haven't the knowledge or tools to do anything. His skin is so tough, it even broke my saw."

"Well, well, can't you use some magic? Something to repair him?" Link stammered.

"We tried that. All attempts to use magic failed, even our most powerful spells we could muster. He won't heal."

"Don't say that, there's got to be a way."

"Alas, if there is, even he could not tell us how."

Zelda interrupted. "How is he doing now?"

"The same as before. His speech is strange, the volume of his voice goes up and down, and there is a strange accent to it. He has trouble moving his arms and legs, he can only manage jittery movements. He goes in and out at times, things he calls 'processing overloads'. I'm afraid I see no hope for improvement."

"Can I go see him?" Link said.

"You can if you wish," he said.

"Thank you so much for all you've done," Zelda said to him, as Link immediately sped in.

The old man nodded and walked away. Zelda followed Link into the room. At the doorway, Link turned back to her.

"Actually, I'd like to be alone with him," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"All right," Zelda said as he turned away, "But try to remember what I said. Try to be understanding."

Link nodded. Zelda was unsure whether Link was going to take her advice. He didn't quite have the compassion she did. It had been replaced by the stubbornness of a courageous hero, one who wouldn't stop at anything from accomplishing a task. It was in his hands now though, she supposed. She picked up her skirt to prevent it from dragging and headed out of the hallway.

Link entered the smithery room, where they had taken Mega Man after the infirmary had failed to yield results. They took him to the place meant for creating weapons, armor, and other metal implements. Chains and large iron tongs hung in racks all over the room. Two fire kilns were at opposite corners, their flames extinguished for the moment. Other cauldrons of coal and weapon racks were spread throughout the large room. Why did they bring him in here? Was he really no more than this? Just a weapon? Classified as a weapon?

Mega Man laid face up on a table in the middle of the room. Link could tell that the people had been surrounding him, poking him, prodding him with their tools. It was like walking up to a dead body. No, not dead. A non-living body. Somehow, Link could no longer feel any life force coming from him, like a sixth sense. It was probably just something psychological in his head, some traumatic effect from what he had witnessed.

Mega Man turned his head slowly and looked up at Link.

"HeLLoo, LiNk. I'm afra-a-a-a-id you're nOt SeeINg me aTttt my BEest." He smiled, "I'll TRY-Y-Y to diver-r-r-rt pOWEr to my vocalization."

"What are you?" Link demanded in a low voice.

"I've told you before. I'm a robot. A mechanical-"

"No," Link stated angrily. "What are you really? Explain it so I can understand it, none of these strange words you keep spouting."

Mega Man sighed. "I am a machine."

"A machine? A machine that walks and talks? Like a mechanical man?"

"Yes, that's essentially it. My outer skin, or armor as you call it, is made of a titanium alloy. Titanium is a very hard metal found in the earth's crust that is easily formed. I do not have internal organs, I have "parts" that act somewhat like human parts do, but that's where the similarity ends. I do not have a brain, I have a CPU, which stands for central processing unit. Basically, it computes trillions of mathematical instructions per second. These instructions tell me to walk and talk and what to say and how to decide on a response to a stimulus."

"So you're not really in control of your actions."

"I am, in a sense. I can make my own decisions, but it's all based on how I was programmed. Programmed means what instructions I was given. For example, if I was programmed to garden, I would be able to make judgments based on what information I know about gardening, but I would not be able to construct a house, because I would not have instructions on how to do that."

"But you were 'programmed' for fighting."

"Yes. Originally, I was made to be a tool-user robot. But circumstances forced me to become a fighting robot."

"So you can't learn anything."

"Not quite. There is another part of us called 'artificial intelligence'. It's a part of our programming that allows us to learn new data and apply it to solve problems creatively. In other words, it's the ability to simulate human behavior."

"So you're just a simulation of a human."

"Exactly."

"Well, you did a good job."

Mega Man managed to smile at the compliment.

Link continued, "That's why you didn't eat, didn't breathe. You have none of those things inside you."

"Correct."

Link took a deep breath. He felt so betrayed right now, but he knew he had no right to be. It was his own ignorance that led him to this feeling. There was so much regret he had inside him. If he had known just how delicate he really was he could have taken more steps to protect him. He thought it was all his armor, that his armor was so strong it was invulnerable to all weapons. But it turns out it was just a shell for a machine as fragile as an egg.

Mega Man continued, "Robots as advanced and complex as me are very precise machines. Our parts need to be in almost 100 working order for us to function. That's why when my armor was penetrated, my elements were disrupted."

"Once your shell is cracked, it just takes a stiff breeze to blow you over."

"Correct, although it was a halberd."

"And your entire world made up of these robots, just like you. Programmed to do what they're told."

"Not precisely. There are many robots, but humans are the dominant life form, just like you. Humans were the ones who built all robots and robots are meant to serve humans."

"It sounds like slavery to me."

"Slavery would mean that we are forced to do the things we do. But since we are programmed to be this way, we do it willingly. It's complicated, even in my time. There are arguments about it that reach the highest level of government. But we are machines. Most humans treat robots as equals. We work alongside humans instead of for them."

"That sounds so terrible. Living at the edge of being human, but never being able to be one. Somewhere in between life and..." Link stopped. He was in danger of losing himself, he could sense it, so he stopped before he went too far. "I guess I just don't understand."

Mega Man smirked a little and turned his head back up to the ceiling. "In my world, we have a legend too. The story of a boy named Pinocchio. The legend goes that there was a carpenter long ago, a great maker of puppets, but he had no child of his own. So he wished for one upon the first star he saw. That night as he slept, a blue fairy came down and made one of the puppets walk and talk. But he was still made of wood. The fairy told him that if he acted responsibly he would someday become a real boy, and provided him a talking cricket to act as his conscience. I guess that's kind of like our situation, trying to become like humans, but our own abilities and aspects preventing us from achieving it. Both from internal forces and external. But others say robots cannot have desires because they don't have emotions. I don't know."

They both sat looking at each other for a while. Neither had anything to say.

"So what happens now?" Link asked.

"If I was in my world, I would need a plasma welder, an electron tuner, an F.I.F. microscope, and a diagnostic computer. Of course, all those things are impossible here, and I don't believe there's any equipment precise enough to restore me to full working order. In fact, it may have an adverse effect on me. Those magicians that were in here, I tried to tell them what was happening, but they were no help."

"They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No, I tried to politely explain it, but they just shook their heads and figured they could do nothing about it."

Link slammed his fist on the table and gritted his teeth. "Those fools. I'll have them-"

"They were right."

Link stood back up and looked at him.

"They were right, there is nothing they can do about it. There is nothing anything can do about it. A club impacted through the armor of my right shoulder, it's down 50 power and speed now and will continue as it loses alignment. I'll eventually lose all use of it. The side where my fuel capacitator is has been damaged, but I don't know to what extent. You can see the miscellaneous dents in my armor. It's taking all my processing power to correct the errors to my memory cache," he held up his arm to the side of his head, "To the calculations that I'm running, so I can't perform normal activities any longer until my systems are repaired. I suppose my system will eventually degrade enough until I can no longer speak or move. I'll no longer be able to process information. I'm not exactly sure what will happen then."

Link glared down at Mega Man, suppressing any sort of emotion that could creep out.

"Do not worry though," the robot said. "I feel no pain. Robots cannot feel pain. However, it seems to me that an existence such as this is not helpful to anyone. I will become a dead weight to you. I'll become not much more than a statue," he smiled at the humor in that. Perhaps he could be put on display in the royal hall, with a placard showing his great deeds. "It's getting difficult to focus on my surroundings as well. The error correction is taking away from that as well. Clearly, there is no reason to keep me here like this. I'm only a burden to others. I'm taking up space in this very armory."

"Don't say things like that."

Mega Man continued heedless, "When I can no longer respond to outside stimuli, that will mean all my CPU is occupied. Something like a coma, but I will not dream, I will retain consciousness and thought-processing but be unable to apply it. I cannot self-deactivate. When that time comes, I would appreciate it if you would find some way to destroy my body."

"No! I will never do that."

"This is a very important favor that I'm asking you. I do not wish to be trapped in a constant state of consciousness forever without the ability to interact with my environment. There's nothing you can do for me now."

"Like hell there is!"

Link grabbed Mega Man's torso and began pulling him off the table. He had to dig his feet into the floor to get the leverage to start pulling his body. He groaned loudly as his muscles burned with pain, but he welcomed it.

"What are you doing?" Mega Man said.

Link pivoted Mega Man's legs around until they hung off the table. He pulled Mega Man's head up until he was sitting straight.

"Unless you have something alternative in mind, you are wasting energy," Mega Man said.

"Can you walk?" Link moaned through gritted teeth as he pulled Mega Man's arm over his shoulder, the cold metal digging into his bone.

"I do not know."

"Well," he strained to speak as he pushed upwards on his body. "Turn off all that other stuff you were worried about and get off the table."

Mega Man complied, diverting power to his leg systems. With a shaky step, he came down from the table and stood on his own. Although not fully functional he was able to make small steps forward. He looked to Link who was bearing his top weight for him.

"You are causing yourself pain, I cannot allow this."

"Just go, dammit! Move forward. I'm not letting you die without a fight."

"Where are we going?" he said as they moved towards the door.

"To the only thing that has the power to help you now. The golden power."

**Next Chapter: The Triforce**


	27. Chapter 27: The Triforce

_Chapter 27: The Triforce_

"Link! You cannot do this. This is absolutely out of the question."

Zelda scuttled down the stairs, following so close to Link she was practically jumping on his back. He ignored her callings and concentrated on getting his friend down the stairs. He was of a single mind now. The pain in his shoulder had forced him into a mental state of a single track - get Mega Man to the Triforce.

"Link, are you listening to me? Argh," she screamed as she caught her dress on the banister, slowing her down. "Stupid dress," she fiddled with the hooks on the railing, finally ripping her sleeve out of its grasp. "Link!" she raced down the stairs and caught up with him. "Link, you are not thinking straight. This is absolutely not an option."

"This is the last option."

"Do you even know the full power of the Triforce? It is omnipotence personified. It's the end all and be all of all things. Men have gone mad over it. It's been the cause of Hyrule's trouble since it was created."

Link snapped his head to Zelda, "Don't talk to me like I'm one of those people who got lost in the Dark World. I've used the Triforce. I held it up in triumph over Ganon's crumpled body. I know exactly what it's capable of. I was the one who saved it. I was the one who rebuilt Hyrule with it. I think that gives me a little leeway to use it as I see fit."

"The Triforce is a forbidden relic now. No one is allowed to touch it. That's why it's locked way down here in the heart of the castle. You, me, and the king are the only ones who know it's down here. Of course, now he does as well."

"What are you saying Zelda? Just spit it out," he snapped angrily.

"I don't trust him." Zelda glowered down at him from the step above. There was fury in her eyes. If there was one thing in the world she had to protect it was the Triforce from falling into enemy hands. Her duties were few, but she took them very seriously. "There, are you happy? I said it."

"You don't trust him? How can you say that after all he's done."

"I do trust him, but not as far as the Triforce is concerned. It's far too powerful to be taken lightly. It's not to be used for getting whatever you want like this."

"Have I ever used it like a spoiled child? Just gathering what I want like a kid in the candy store. Saying you don't trust him is like saying you don't trust me."

"As far as this is concerned, yes. You're letting your emotions get to you. What if he had planned this all along. Waiting for the right time to strike. He could be an agent of Ganondorf, or someone working on his own devices." Link became suddenly angered by that word - 'devices'. The irony of it bit back deep within him. Zelda continued, "He came from an alternate world. We know nothing about him or his origins."

"I don't need to know about his origins. I don't know what happened to my parents, either. I was raised by my uncle. I could be the son of Agahnim for all I know. So tell me again that origins matter."

Zelda was starting to get frustrated at Link, who just kept walking down the stairs regardless. Mega Man was eerily silent, but still moving. There was little time left for him and he knew it. There couldn't be anything stopping them now, not even their allies.

"Link, you have to stop. I order you to stop."

"I can't stop. You know that. If I stop, he dies. That will not happen." The biting pain in his shoulder surged anew with each step, but Link mustered his courage and continued on.

The reached the bottom of the staircase. A massive wall with the royal insignia faintly carved on it blocked their progress. Two leaf stems curling upwards around it surrounded the Triforce symbol. The design at the bottom showed something like a sun splashing out light rays. To someone who didn't know, it appeared to be a dead end, but it was the last blockade to the chamber.

The two stopped in front of the door, with Zelda standing on one step above them. "I'm not gonna let you in, Link."

"And I'm not gonna move until you do." He glared at the door, holding Mega Man up with his aching shoulder, now trying to lift his weight a little higher with his free hand.

Zelda and Link stood there in a stare-off without the staring. Both had the firmest resolutions to not budge an inch. Time was of the essence and they both were wasting it.

"This vault door takes two of us to open," Link reminded, breaking the silence.

"I know."

The silence hung in the air again for a brief moment. Link turned up to her. "Come on, Zelda. You know this is the right thing to do. More than you want to protect the Triforce, you want to save a life. His life. He's worth it. It's worth opening the Triforce."

"Link, I wouldn't even do this for you."

Her words were harsh, but she was right. The debate on the Triforce was long and hard, but its power was unimaginable and power corrupts. The final decision was to keep it locked away from mortal's hands as best they could - deep in the heart of the palace, with as few people knowing of its location as possible. This would also prevent the temptation to use it by those who knew even. No one would use it for any purpose.

"I know you wouldn't, Zelda. We all agreed to that. But he didn't!" he cried out, pleading. "He didn't make that choice. He's a stranger in a strange land. He was brought here by some whirlwind of fate and dropped here and he was attacked by our enemies, not his."

"Then maybe it's his fate to die here."

"It's not his fate to die at all! He told me. He is a robot. He is a machine. He can't die. It would be like trying to kill a rock." For some reason, as he spoke the words he understood. He understood what Mega Man was, as if the words were being provided for him. "But whatever it is he does when he stops functioning, he's about to do it. And I can't let that happen. I can't live my life knowing I didn't try. And I don't think you could either. So please. I'm asking you, please, help me."

Zelda thought. She didn't realize the consequences of her actions. For some reason, these last words of Link were starting to get to her. Mega Man, whatever he was, had bravely sacrificed himself for their motives, without knowing why or wanting any reward. It wasn't even part of his destiny, and yet he did it because he wanted to. He had the choice, but he didn't choose this. He was purely innocent.

Zelda stepped down the stairs past Link and Mega Man. "All right, I'll do it. But I'm still against it. And I don't want anyone to know about this. This is a secret we take to our graves."

"Understood," Link nodded, still with a grim, determined expression on his face. He set Mega Man against the wall, leaning him up and approached the vault door.

Zelda held up a gloved hand to the right side of the wall, over the wisdom portion of the Triforce. Link stood at the left side. "Ready?" she asked.

Link withdrew his sword from its sheath and nodded.

Zelda waved her hand in a circle over the crest. Blue starry sparkles trailed from her glowing fingers as the magic spell worked its way into the locking mechanism. Rays of green light splayed out from her hand. Link concentrated and built up strength in his sword. A trail of energy traveled down the metal of the blade and glistened at the tip, pulsating with power. He thrust it into the crest of courage as it glowed. The wall seemed to melt around the blade, letting it pass through like a ripple of water. The crest on Zelda's side glowed bright yellow as well, forced by the magic spell.

The door began raising off the floor with a low rumble. Bits of gravel and dust rained down below as the wall slowly rose up over their heads, portentously hanging over the doorway. As this was going on, Link replaced his sword and came back to Mega Man's side. Picking him up on his hurting shoulder, he pulled him away from the wall and took him into the darkened room, only dimly lit by what came down from the torch-lit staircase. Zelda passed under the archway as well and pointed to each side of the room. Candle holders lit up brightly from her magic touch.

The vault was a large overawing room, built like a chapel. Curtains adorned with the royal insignia hung at each gray brick wall. Each of the three surrounding walls had a stained glass representation of the Triforce. The center of the room had a two tier marble pedestal covered with a red carpet. The three golden triangles of the Triforce, joined together, floated above the silvery granite plinth, ominous, motionless. This was the heart of the castle. The heart of Hyrule itself.

"This is a selfish request," Zelda said indignantly. "If someone with a selfish heart makes a request, it will grant it selfishly."

"That's why I'm not going to make the request. He will."

Link and Mega Man stopped at the edge of the room. He hoisted Mega Man's arm off his shoulder and gently nudged him forward.

"Oh, by the gods, Link. This is so foolish. What if he is not balanced? The Triforce pieces will split and the land will be covered in darkness again."

The legend stated that whoever touches the Triforce will make their wishes come true, but only if that person's heart is balanced in the forces of courage, wisdom, and power. If it wasn't, the Triforce would split. That person would keep the piece that he was strongest in, and the other two would go to whoever in the land was chosen by destiny to keep those pieces they represented. Link was not ignorant of this factor.

"He is balanced. I've seen him through thick and thin. I've watched him on the battlefield, and I've watched him at rest. He will accept the Triforce and the Triforce will accept him."

But inside, Link was worried. Mega Man didn't have a heart to be balanced. He didn't have a mind to make a wish. How could a rock have a desire? Could it? Would the Triforce ignore him like he wasn't even there? Was he really alive? What would the Triforce do? Link suddenly felt a pang of regret and trepidation, messing with god-like powers he did not completely understand.

Mega Man channeled some power to his ocular receptors, diverting some from his more dispensable structures at the moment. He could only afford the necessary systems running right now. As his eyes returned to focus, the first thing he saw was a great yellow light. This light was... unexplainable. One that seemed to grow brighter as he looked at. It was... so beautiful. There was no other way to describe it really. It was if it irradiated a healing sense to it, something beyond Mega Man's robotic comprehension, something that would help people. If Mega Man could put the word 'holy' to anything, this would be it.

He turned back to Link and Zelda, who were standing in front of the doorway, watching him. "What do I do?"

"It's called the Triforce. Touch it with a wish in your hea- in your mind," Link answered.

Mega Man interpreted this as some sort of touch interface to another magic spell, something that had already proven not to work. Link and Zelda seemed to believe it would though, and there wasn't much time left before total system failure. He decided to make the one last request he would be able to fulfill satisfied. Accelerating power to his legs, he approached the object floating in the middle of the room above a pedestal. It was a golden metal triangle, composed of three smaller triangles stacked like a pyramid.

He looked back at the two, still standing at the doorway as if they were afraid to enter the room. They seemed so far away, but he could see their encouraging faces urging him on. He turned back to the Triforce, figuring he had nothing to lose. He reached out his hand and placed his palm on its center.

_Heal me._

The Triforce glowed anew, radiating even more holy light than before, spilling it into the room like a flood. Sudden sensations gripped Mega Man's body, overwhelming sensations, unlike anything he had ever experienced. It felt like a million unseen hands were traveling through his body like a bloodstream, weaving in and out of his insides, roaming over his outsides.

"I... I can hear it," Mega Man said. "It's... speaking to me... somehow... But I can't... I can't understand."

"It's working," Link said, noticing his speech patterns were returning to normal.

Mega Man ran diagnostics over his body. The number of errors he was getting dropped to fewer and fewer. The metal of his body reformed and reshaped, punching out the dings until it returned to its smooth titanium shell. His CPU processing strain reduced immensely, no longer having to overcompensate for permeating difficulties. His body was actually self-healing, self-repairing. The feeling was like going to sleep, Mega Man thought. Systems came back online, working better than before. He felt like he was fresh off the worktable again. Diagnostics showed the efficiency of his work output was as close to 100 as he had ever seen. It was as if the Triforce was perfecting his system. It was almost too good to be true.

Suddenly, systems began coming online that Mega Man didn't even know he had, or that had been archaic. Upgrades were downgrading, downgrades were upgrading. Unused code was being used but somehow his system still worked. Something strange was happening. His circuits were in perfect working order, something he was not used to. He was 100 error-free. Mega Man figured he was just unused to the sensation. Somehow the Triforce sensed this and altered its healing powers to not contradict his existing systems. Processing increased, memory cache efficiency was up. The Triforce continued doing its work.

Suddenly, Mega Man felt his weapon copy system activate. He looked down at his arm cannon in shock and confusion. His scanning circuitry activated, analyzing the Triforce he was touching. If his information was right, the learning system was somehow processing the Triforce as a new weapon for his Mega Buster system. Mega Man tried to pull his hand away, but the force was too strong. Either the Triforce, or his own arm cannon, or both were keeping him there. The component continued its reformation independent of Mega Man's requests to cancel it. New instructions were being added to his program that he had no control over. Desperately, Mega Man tried to stop it, but to no avail. Some sort of merge was happening.

The Triforce began glowing brighter than before, reaching beyond tolerable limits, extending to Mega Man's body. Link and Zelda had to shield their eyes. A great humming began echoing in the chamber, high-pitched, the sound of something overloading.

Mega Man screamed.

"Mega Man! Let go!" Zelda shouted.

The humming reached its highest point, almost to where human ears could no longer hear. The light extinguished and Mega Man flew back into the wall, impacting and rolling off, crumpled on the floor.

**Next Chapter: The Laws**


	28. Chapter 28: The Laws

_Chapter 28: The Laws_

Roll had never been in the hospital before. The modernization of old buildings left a new traveler at a bit of a loss. A quick look at the directory told her where she needed to go though. Dr. Light's room was 1011, ironically, also a binary number. She traveled through long corridors and hallways, receptionist desks, and unlabeled doors until she finally found Dr. Light's room. He was resting comfortably, watching TV.

She knocked on the door. "Dr. Light?" she asked.

Dr. Light turned from his TV and looked to the doorway, his expression washed to one of great delight. "Roll, so good to see you. Please come in."

Roll complied. She noticed that a bouquet of colorful flowers rested in a vase next to his bed. "Who are the flowers from?" she asked.

"Oh, the hospital puts them in every room, replaces them every week. They're quite lovely though."

Roll would have liked to smell them as humans did, but it would tell her nothing but what chemicals and ingredients were vaporizing from the plant. There was no point.

"I've finished my research on the vase, Dr. Light. I've discovered that there is a design on the vase that matches a binary electrical pulse pattern used in old computer network communication transmissions."

"Oh, fascinating, a binary number in picture form, and I had it all along. What does it mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. I've translated the code, but it doesn't seem to have any application. Translating into text, numbers, and other basic applications seems to result in gibberish."

"Oh, yes, binary language by itself only translates into numbers, but every system is different for how it's interpreted. One might treat it as ASCII code and another might treat it as a picture, and if it's really a CAD/CAM program, both are going to spit back garbage."

"I've concluded my research on the topic and found no usable conclusions. I simply can't tell what it's good for or why Wily wanted it. My results have been compiled and downloaded to a disk. You'll find it in the living room when you come back home."

"Excellent. Wait a minute, Roll. Are you not going to be there when I get back?"

Roll sheepishly looked down at Dr. Light's sheets. "Well, that's what I came here to ask you about. I wanted to do it in person, rather than through the phone." She looked back into his eyes. "I know the upgrades you gave me were piecemeal, but they still work really well, almost better than Rock's. I have increased physical capacity, honed sensors-"

"Roll, what is it you're trying to ask me?"

"I want to go after Wily."

Dr. Light clenched his fist as Roll speedily continued with points to support the prudence of her request.

"I've already been upgraded to at least Rock's equivalent. Granted I have no battle experience, but neither did Rock when he first went out, and I've been learning from him all these years. I know how it works, I know what to do. Time is running out for us, and I know Dr. Wily has something big planned. I can find Dr. Wily's castle and put a stop to him before he has the chance to do anything. I have the know-how and-"

Dr. Light fluttered his hand, shushing her. "No Roll, it's not about that," he sighed. "You know how much I hated having to turn your brother into a fighting robot. You remember?"

"Yes."

"And you must know that I felt the same way about you. I never wanted you to know the harshness of war. Killing your own kind, it's... it's inhuman." Dr. Light could barely comprehend what he was saying, but it sounded right. Morality was a subjective topic far beyond his comprehension. He felt he had no right to wax poetic on it.

"I know the sacrifices Rock had to make, and I'm willing to take on the same burden. Until we find out what happened to him, who else is going to do it? Who else is capable?"

"There is no one else," Dr. Light agreed. "But it's not about your strength or cunning or skill. It's about afterwards. It's about living with the choices you make. It's... no, I'm sorry. I'm thinking about myself." Dr. Light had to remind himself that robots did not have feelings. They learned, but could not emote. Roll had learned from her brother and wanted to be like him, a sort of role model, and there was no way he could stop that. All these feelings of sacrifices and consequences he was going on about applied to himself only.

He continued, "Roll, I know you can do it. I don't want you to do it, because it means risking losing you. But I always did what I did for the greater good of humanity. I tell myself that every night before I go to bed. I wake up every morning with that goal." He turned away from her and looked out the window. Bright white light streamed in from the sun. "You don't have to ask my permission, Roll."

"No, Dr. Light. I felt that it was necessary to get your approval to go on this quest. You may need me at home more since you are incapacitated. Your tasks require you to have a servant, but since you are here currently-"

"No," Dr. Light interrupted her. "I mean you don't have to ask my permission at all... for anything."

"What?" Roll cocked her head to the side, confused.

"You have free will. Completely. You can do anything you want, only your physical and mental limitations will prevent you from doing so."

They both stared at each other for a moment. Neither knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"I don't understand."

Dr. Light sighed again. Saying these things out loud was the hardest thing he ever had to do. The risk was overwhelming. Dr. Light explained, "The three laws of robotics, the rules that are required by law to be programmed into any and all robots meeting the standards of A.I. set by the Tokyo Conference."

"Yes."

"You don't have those. And neither does your brother."

Roll's jaw dropped wide open.

"Dr. Light! That's..." she hushed her voice down to a whisper. "That's illegal."

"I know it is. But it's the only way I could get your programming to work. The A.I... it wouldn't function with those laws in place. Something in the code conflicted with the rules and it went screwy. It's what happened to your brother... your other brother. So I took them out."

"But how did you get around the inspection. I mean the tests. There are tests designed to check that the laws are installed. We surely took them."

"Aha, that's the ingenious part. You A.I. is so advanced I simply programmed in your morality. That's why when you were tested to see if you would break the laws, you wouldn't go through with it. There was never any part of your programming that cancelled out your actions when they were about to conflict with the laws. You simply chose not to act."

"Dr. Light, do you know what this means? You're putting your entire career and reputation at risk. You're chancing your future by telling me this. Do you know what the ramifications are?"

"Yes, that's why I'm hoping you won't tell anyone. It's my dark secret. I took a big risk in telling you this, because... now I'm not sure how you will act on it. Every time your brother goes out there, he is capable of so much more, and I'm afraid someday he will learn that he is capable of overcoming the laws. That he does not need to follow our orders, that he does not need to preserve his body, and that he... has the ability to harm humans."

She knew what he meant. If Mega Man had somehow killed Dr. Wily, if he lost himself in the moment, all would be revealed. This was all a lot for Roll to comprehend. She put a hand to her forehead in stress, trying to gather all this new information she had received. "So you're telling me that all this time, ever since I was created. I... I had free will. I could do whatever I wanted."

"Yes. You have the power. You and your brother. You could leave me right now, if you wanted to. Find your own way."

"Oh, no, Dr. Light, I'd never do that. I couldn't do that to you, no matter what." She hunched over Dr. Light's body and hugged him tightly.

"I know, dear," he said as he patted her back. "But I'm not going to be around forever. You'll have to take care of yourself on your own someday."

Roll thought of something and stood back up. "Does Dr. Wily know? What about the other robots?"

"No, Dr. Wily has no idea about you two. He handled more of the hardware and mechanical aspect, the physical. I handled the software. He never realized what I had done to you. The others, Cut Man, Guts Man, and all, they had the rules programmed in them just fine. Their A.I., for some reason, accepted the laws. It was no more advanced than yours, but they had no difficulties with following them. I never could figure out why. Sometimes I wonder whether it was that aspect that made your brother resist Wily's reprogramming." He turned his head to the side. "That's why I worry so much about Mega Man. There's always a possibility he might come back... a murderer. And then, we know what would happen, right? But I just can't bring myself to tell him from fear. I have no idea what he would do if he knew. What either of you would do."

"I'm so... I feel so lost. I don't know what I should do now. It... it... it feels like a whole new realm of possibilities are open up for me."

"I know. The possibilities were always there, you just know that they are now."

"So what do I do? I don't know how to act right now."

"It's up to you, Roll. The choice is yours."

* * *

blip

Mega Man felt his system's stand-by recovery procedure complete, even though he had no record of activating it in the first place. The last thing he remembered was touching the Triforce and feeling some strange sensations. The green and peach shape of Link's head came into view as he opened his eyes. He was lying prone on the floor, still in the Triforce room.

"He's awake!" Link exclaimed. Zelda came rushing over and looked down on him too.

"I knew it," she said.

Mega Man darted his eyes between the two. "Am I... all right?"

"I was going to ask you that," Link said. "We couldn't find any signs of life, cause you don't have any signs of life, but we could hear some noise in your body, so we thought you were still okay, just knocked unconscious."

"I feel strange... good."

"Hmph, that's to be expected," Zelda said. "Coming so closely into contact with the Triforce like that. Who knows what effects it had on you."

The weapon copy system, Mega Man remembered. His weapon copy system had activated during the healing process. He checked his arm cannon status and found it to be fully operational, the same as the rest of his body, however, in addition to the Mega Buster and the empty Thunder Beam, there was a third weapon labeled simply - Triforce.

"My buster cannon," Mega Man said as he sat up, looking at his arm. "It activated during the healing process. It copied the Triforce."

"It did what?" Link said.

"My arm cannon has a copy system, that learns the weapon schemas from other robots I've defeated and so I can use them in my own system. The Thunder Beam was one of them, you saw it," he said to Link. He nodded in understanding. "But when I touched the Triforce, the copy system activated, and now it's one of my weapons."

"It's what?" Link asked in astonishment. "You mean you can fire the Triforce out of your arm? Your cannon, I mean."

"I don't know. I don't really know how the weapon works until I use it, because of the nature of the circuitry switching around."

"You've got to be kidding me," Zelda said. "You're telling me you have a weapon of the Gods now?" She threw up her hands and turned around. "I knew it! I knew it was a mistake."

"Calm down, Zelda, he's on our side," Link argued.

"What happens if someone gets a hold of him. If someone 'unprograms' him and 'reprograms' him to be on their side."

"Excuse me," Mega Man piped up, "But I don't believe that will be possible."

Zelda pointed, "You also thought it was impossible for you to get hurt."

"No one's going to reprogram him," Link said. "I don't know why you're looking at this as a bad thing. It's amazing. He's been able to harness the power of the Triforce, somehow. He can use it as a weapon. Do you know what we could do with that... oh."

"The same thing we could do with the actual Triforce?" Zelda responded acerbically. "The same thing we all agreed not to do? The thing that the guy who didn't agree to all that CAN do?"

"I'm sorry, but if I could interrupt you for a moment," Mega Man said. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you all are talking about. I'm not very clear on what the Triforce is, exactly."

Link turned to Mega Man. "The legend goes: the world was created by three gods from a distant nebula - the God of Wisdom, the God of Power, and the God of Courage. They each formed the land according to their will, creating the mountains, rivers, life, science, magic, everything. And when they departed, they left behind a symbol of their might, the Triforce. Each of the triangles represented one of the gods, so individually, they're the Triforce of Courage, Wisdom, and Power. The Triforce was hidden in the Golden Land where people would seek it. I wish I could tell you where that was exactly, but I don't know myself. It seemed to be an alternate Hyrule of some kind."

"Alternate dimension..." Mega Man mused. "Go on."

"Well, the Triforce has the power to grant the wishes in the hearts and minds of whoever touches it. Before, Ganondorf had it. He was an evil thief that became trapped in the Golden Land, after he changed it to the Dark World, just like I told you before."

Mega Man nodded.

"And when I recovered it, I used it to bring back peace to Hyrule, to help everyone who helped me. Other than that, we really don't know much about it or how it works."

"Wishes in the hearts and minds of people," Mega Man pondered as he stared at his arm, trying to think of the possibilities. "Does that mean I have a... 'wish cannon'?"

"I don't know," Zelda said. "The Triforce is capable of anything, but you've said your arm cannon turned it into a weapon." She shook her head sadly. "Anything could be possible."

Mega Man cradled his arm. "I don't think I'd like to use this weapon. Although it seems powerful, I wonder if it's too powerful. It may overload my circuits, maybe even blow me up."

Horace, the captain of the guards, came into the open chamber and stopped at the doorway, perhaps afraid to come in. "Princess Zelda," he called to her. She turned around and Horace beckoned for her to come closer. She left the group to talk to him in private, like he apparently wanted.

Mega Man ran a diagnostic on his weapon systems. The Triforce weapon was taking up all the remaining space in his data storage. He could delete it from his memory, but that would also be a risk. Not all enemies were vulnerable to his weapons, as he had seen.

"This Triforce," Mega Man said to Link, "Is it truly omnipotent?"

"As far as I know it is. There was nothing I could not wish it to do. But when you have a power like that, it's hard not to do everything you want to. If you wish for evil things, it will grant it in an evil way. Ganondorf wanted to take over the world, so the Golden Land turned into the Dark World. That's why I didn't make any more wishes than I did. I only thought of what was necessary. As you can see, everything's far from perfect, but-"

Link and Mega Man became aware of Zelda coming to them, looking over them with a worried expression on her face.

"The moblins," she said. "They've begun attacking the village. A full-scale attack. I've got every soldier I can spare on their way down, but it's not gonna be enough."

Link and Mega Man looked at each other. "Feeling up to it?" Link grinned.

Mega Man stood up, feeling stronger than ever. "Locked and loaded," he said.

Zelda reached behind her back and held out her bow and quiver. "Here, take this, you'll need it," she said.

"Thank you," Link slung the weapon on his back. "You know, you could come with us. You're a pretty good shot."

"No. As much as I'd like to, I have my role, and you have yours."

"All right. Mega Man, you ready?"

"Rock and roll."

**Next Chapter: Inheritance**


	29. Chapter 29: Inheritance

_Chapter 29: Inheritance_

Chaos reigned in Kakariko.

Screams of terror flew through the village. Women holding their babies took flight from the ravaging monsters. Brave citizens battled with the meager weapons they had, but the javelins being hurled at them from afar were no match for them. They took the same path as the women and children. Palace soldiers fought them off as best they could with their swords, but the moblins could pick them off at a distance with their spears. Their brute strength and sheer numbers had the royal guard in a futile vice grip. It took three soldiers to bring down one moblin and only after they had backed it into a corner.

Most of the monsters chased after the humans, others destroyed buildings. With a roar, a moblin used his torch to set one of the houses ablaze. Several others overturned a nearby cart filled with wine caskets. Red liquid poured onto the dirt like a waterfall, seeping into the earth. Another bashed a house with his iron club, thunderous booming sounded as the cracks in the wall grew deeper and deeper. They were driving the humans out.

One moblin pulled a gigantic gray rock up from the ground, uprooting clumps of dirt and grass. He hoisted it above his head and plodded menacingly toward a house. Eyeing the thatched roof he leaned back, getting ready to throw it.

An arrow flung threw the air and implanted in his back. The moblin screamed in pain and lost his grip on the boulder, which came crashing down in his head. The unconscious pig-dog slumped forward as Link sprang into the air and stabbed downward with his sword. The monster vanished.

"Let's get it on," Link said. He rushed into the fray and began swiping at moblins left and right as he made a beeline for the center of the village. Some monsters cleared away and others ended up at the tip of his blade. A huge moblin suddenly jumped out at him, startling Link. The beast shoved him to the ground and raised up his spear to stab into Link's heart.

Yellow blobs of energy rained down from above, penetrating through the moblin's flesh, poking him with holes like a pencil through paper. The assailant vanished.

Link looked up to the roof of the house. Mega Man was standing perched on a corner of the roof, his Mega Buster aimed carefully. He looked to Link, smirked, and gave him a 'thumbs-up'.

Link turned down the village street while Mega Man sniped two more moblins from a distance. One of the monsters uttered a guttural noise to the air, something like a howl and a repeated call. The monster pulled a pink crystal out of his armor and held it up to the sky. Uttering the magic words, the crystal exploded and showered Kakariko with a sparkling red rain. The moblins absorbed the powder of the crystal and continued fighting. Mega Man tried to fire his plasma cannon again, but met with the same results as last time - the shots impacted harmlessly on their armor.

"So it's this game again?" Mega Man commented. Several moblins clamored around the corner of the building Mega Man was looking down on them from, bashing the sides the building and shaking it's support structure to tumble him down. "Fine," he said. He tucked into a ball and flipped end over end down into the group, uncoiling and kicking the center one in the head. Landing on his face he flipped onto his hands and spun around, kicking his feet out into the monster's faces. The two beasts recoiled back into the wall as Mega Man turned upright and straight punched both of them in the face. They fell over unconscious.

"Some people learn from their mistakes," he commented.

Meanwhile, Link engaged in battle with several moblins at the same time, slashing his sword up and down. He broke one of their spears in two, and raised his shield just as another came hurling at him. The polearm's thrust knocked Link off balance as he tumbled into another's waiting grasp. Skillfully, he turned into his inertia, spinning around the moblin's body to his back and stabbing his sword into his armor, reducing him to vapor.

He pulled out his magic boomerang and chucked it at a moblin coming towards him. The boomerang flew forward as Link crossed diagonally, getting as much distance between him and a string of moblins as possible. The weapon banged against the monster's head, stunning him, and began flying back to Link. As the line of monsters starting gunning for him, the boomerang knocked each one of them in the head, coming towards Link like a skipping stone. Each of the monsters swayed and grasped their heads in pain as Link caught the curved stick.

Link shuffled his feet and held his sword out in front of him. Barreling forward with a scream he took off like a shot, ramming into the moblins and making them disappear with the point of his sword, like a human spear. The beasts vanished one by one, and Link skidded to a stop at the end of his run.

The moblins were now beginning to see the tides were turning. The two warriors used their wits to outclass the vile monsters. The palace guards saw the amazing battles of Link and Mega Man and became inspired themselves, fighting with renewed vigor. The fiends began falling back, taking the defensive stance, instead of the offensive.

One of the moblins grunted a call that sounded throughout the village. Mega Man and Link knew what it was even before they took action - a retreat.

Mega Man pummeled one of the monsters, throwing him across the street, into another running group of them, heading for the forest. Or so he thought, until he saw them jumping in a well. Possibly another Zora waterway, Mega Man thought, but it seemed unusual when the forest was close by. Another group of them moved into a nearby house on a hill. He started wandering through the square paths of the village until he found Link.

"The moblins are retreating, but they're going into the wells and houses," he said.

"A hidden lair," Link said resolutely. "Let's go." He and Mega Man headed into the direction of the house. Link stopped at one of the wandering palace guards, running after the moblins as well. "Take care of the village, we'll go after the moblins," he shouted as he flew past.

They climbed up the hill and entered the house. It was constructed with metal, so it was not burned or tumbled down. It was empty, though, and ransacked. The tables and chairs were overturned. The cauldron on the fire had been spilled on the floor, leaving some sort of strong-smelling vegetable stew to rot. No sign of moblins though.

"The basement?" Mega Man said.

Link pulled up an obvious cellar door and the two headed down the stairs. The underground room was also made of metal, unusual for a house in this day and age. Various barrels and boxes were stored in the room, cluttering up the walls. No moblins here either.

"Damn, where'd they go?" Link said. "They didn't just disappear."

Mega Man scanned the room with his optical sensors, particularly x-ray. There was a dark blotch against one wall. "There," Mega Man pointed. "Should be some sort of entrance there." He approached the wall and began feeling around it for a seam or crack to push in. Link meanwhile was checking the barrels in the room. One that was placed a little away from the others seemed suspicious. He pushed it back against the other barrels and the door opened, much to Mega Man's surprise.

"How'd you do that?" he asked.

"Simple logic. Pushing the barrel opens the door," he smiled.

The two treaded into the door and found themselves in a long tunnel, lined with hieroglyphics and pictures. "It's a dungeon," Link said. "Very dangerous. Watch yourself." Link was worried about Mega Man's ability in a temple. He didn't have the know-how he took for granted of how these things worked. A mechanical man might take a straightforward approach and fall to his death.

"Up ahead," Mega Man pointed out, using his keen eyesight. "Moblins are running down there."

Link took out his sword. "After them."

The two made tracks down the corridor, sloping downward deeper into the underground. The portly moblins were easily overtaken, as they huffed down, looking behind them at the warriors pursuing.

Just as they reached the exit of the corridor, Link pulled out his ice rod and fired a streaming blast of icy energy. One of the monsters froze in his tracks, encased in ice. Mega Man jump-kicked him in the torso, shattering him into a million pieces. The other Link aimed at with his bow and fired two shots at the same time. The arrows hit their marks true and the fiend disappeared in a blast of magic energy.

"We got the tools, we got the talent," he said.

"More." Mega Man pointed at other moblins escaping. There was a large uncrossable canal in the middle of the room, flowing from and into two sewer grates. A large crate which the monsters had been using to cross floated in the middle of the canal. One of the moblins lagging behind saw the heroes at the other end of the room, picked up his spear and tossed it through the crate. The polearm penetrated and the crate began sinking to the bottom, bubbling up air.

The walls were too steep to climb out from if they jumped in. Thinking quickly, Mega Man jumped into the water, sinking faster than the box. Making short hops he slid under it as its shadowed form fell on him, and held it up. With the buoyancy of the water, the container weighed practically nothing as he sprang up from the ground.

Link saw the crate rise back up. Gathering a running start he leapt into the air and landed squarely on the box as Mega Man reached the apex of his climb. Rapidly he coursed a few steps across it and jumped to the other side of the canal, catching the edge of the wall and pulling himself up the rest of the way.

Mega Man shoved the crate away, once he had seen Link's wavering form climb up the wall from his underwater vantage point. He bounced off the canal floor and burst out of the surface. Not enough to grab the wall though. Before he began sinking, Link reached out and grabbed Mega Man's arm. Using all his strength he pulled him up enough so he could grab the ledge with one hand, groaning all the time. Mega Man hoisted himself up and climbed to solid ground.

"Whew," Link uttered. "Almost threw out my arm."

"Nice job," Mega Man said. "Let's keep going."

The two kept on the same path the moblins took, through a darkened doorway. A wall blocked off the next room they found, one that didn't reach the stone ceiling.

"It appears to be some sort of maze," Mega Man said. "My x-ray's not penetrating the stone, must be lead in the rocks."

They looked left and right, the two paths they could go. Link said, "Let's try left first."

They began running through the various corridors and paths that met up with them. Few enemies were hiding around corners, all were easily dispatched with Mega Man's long range weapon. They came across many dead ends and alternate paths which also led to dead ends. Mega Man kept a constantly updating picture in his head of the paths they had taken and those they skipped, so they never repeated paths, taking a systematic approach to exploration. Still they were doing a lot of back tracking and crossing through paths they had been through before.

"Are we going around in circles?" Link asked

"No, I'm sure of it, we're still exploring the maze."

"This seems to go on forever. It seems like they're changing the maze on us."

"We're still on the same path. Nothing's run into each other. Nothing's in error with the map," Mega Man reassured them. If the maze was changing, some data would have come into conflict.

They continued down the corridors and hallways, losing more and more time. This was truly an excellent hindrance to those trying to find the center of the moblin's hideout. Obviously, the moblins knew what route they had to take. But the maze was so vast, a wandering human would easily be trapped in this labyrinth.

As they turned a corner they reached yet another dead end. Link started to turn around again, but Mega Man stopped him.

"Wait, there's something different about this. The wall is slightly discolored."

Link turned back around and saw that he was right. This wall was part of the large cavern, not one of the maze walls. It wasn't apparent to someone not paying attention, but the rock was a slightly grayer shade of brown than the rest of it. The staining only reached as far as the height of the maze, not above to the domed cavern ceiling. Mega Man and Link moved closer to it.

"There's nothing else very unusual about the wall," Mega Man said.

"Here," Link pointed down to a small corner near the floor. There was an etching carved into the stone of dots with straight horizontal lines running through them. The dots were placed along the different lines in an indiscernible pattern.

"What is it? It must mean something," Link said.

Mega Man analyzed the picture as well as he could. Link touched the carving as if he could receive some sort of message from contact. The picture could have been some sort of writing, something like Hylian script, but he had no idea how anyone could make any sense out of a language with dots and lines.

"I've got it," Mega Man declared. "It's music. It's written music. A, D, B, A, D, B."

Link looked at Mega Man and blinked.

"I guess you might read music differently here. It's three notes repeated. Try playing it."

Link pulled out his flute from his backpack and looked at the notes. Clumsily trying to find the right finger-holes, Mega Man guided him, telling him which notes were which. Link then played what he saw on the wall. The brief song sounded firm, but a little forlorn, almost mystical.

Link heard a telepathic voice in his head. _You have proven your connection to the royal family of Hyrule. Enter._

The wall began to rumble at the markings, and shifted upwards. It revealed a hidden passage into a room left forgotten in time, dark and foreboding, lighted by one standing torch near the door. Other unlit ones were placed sporadically throughout the room against the wall. In fact, each torch was near a tapestry and in front of each tapestry was a lengthy tome resting on a podium. The two walked in, not thinking that this could be the way into the moblin's lair. They hadn't the capability to speak, let alone create a musical passcode, so this was some sort of secret room, probably unknown to the moblins as well.

Link approached the wall lighted by the torch, and the illuminated picture was a painted outline of a great castle with rays of light shining from it, along with a village down below with cows, houses, and farm equipment. Below this was a silver tile with a downward triangle on it. Link touched it.

"Hello. If you are hearing this message, then you must be the Hero of Destiny."

"It's a telepathic tile," Link said.

"No," Mega Man said as he came up to Link. "I hear it too. It's some sort of recording."

The disembodied voice continued. "This also means you've found the last legacy I can leave behind. The gift of truth. These tomes describe the adventures of the hero and the carriers of his legacy. The land you exist on currently was once called Hyrule, who knows what it may be now. It existed as a beacon of all that was light and good until a dark man found the Triforce of Power and his evil covered the land. The prophecies of old came true - a hero emerged from the unlikeliest of places and sealed the evil in the Sacred Realm. However in order to defeat the evil, the hero needed to manipulate the threads of time, and this created a disruption in the flow of prophecy, a flaw in the strands. As a result of the disruption and the power of the Triforce, the dark man was allowed to exist beyond the span of normal time and space, perhaps being able to exist forever. There was little that could be done about it except this: two people chosen by fate would take up the opposing roles of the Triforce. These people would be known by their names and the crests of the Triforce on their hands. Every time the force of evil would rise again to unbalance the furies, the legendary hero would appear and return the world to order. The dark man, the keeper of the Triforce of Power, was known as Ganondorf. The keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom, whose blood would always be part of the royal line, was known as Zelda. And the keeper of the Triforce of Courage was..."

The torch in front of the picture blinked out and the one across the way sparked to life, illuminating the next picture. The two shuffled over and found a picture of a young boy clad in green, one that looked exactly like...

"You, Link."

Link felt a strange sensation on the back of his left hand and held it up. The symbol of the Triforce glowed dimly with the bottom left triangle shining over the others.

**Next Chapter: The Triforce of Unity**


	30. Chapter 30: The Triforce of Unity

_Chapter 30: The Triforce of Unity_

Link suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut as the voice droned on about prophecies, legends, and such. The feeling that that he was as small as an ant. The feeling that he was trapped in something much bigger than he was. They had moved onto the next picture, which showed Link pulling out a sword from a pedestal in a temple. Mega Man had perused the first few pages of the books on the pedestals - "The Hero of Winds", "The Hero of Masks", and so on.

"Ganondorf was from a race of thieves who lived far away in the desert, known as the Gerudo. Only one male is born to them every hundred years, who then becomes the Gerudo king. This king turned out to have the blackest heart of all. He manipulated the king of Hyrule and stole the three spiritual stones from their keepers, the allies of Hyrule's kingdom, the leaders of the Kokiri, the Zora, and the Gorons."

"No," Link responded. "The Zora were never peaceful, and I've never heard of the Kokiri or Gorons."

"The three stones opened the Temple of Time, where the Hero of Time withdrew the Master Sword to fight the evil of Ganondorf. In doing so, he unwittingly opened the door to the Sacred Realm, where Ganondorf used his sorcerer powers to obtain the Triforce. However, the dark man could not hold onto the Triforce, for the balance in his heart shifted to the side of power. This was the piece he kept and used to enslave Hyrule. The other two pieces were bestowed on those chosen by fate to defeat Ganondorf, not existing physically, but in their hearts."

"This is ridiculous," Link interrupted as the voice continued unabated in the background, "Ganondorf was leader of a gang of thieves that accidentally opened a portal to the GOLDEN LAND where the Triforce was. He killed his members and used the Triforce to take over the land. And the master sword was forged during that time, not before it."

"Some legends get distorted over time," Mega Man said.

The voice continued, "The Hero of Time was yet too young to defeat Ganondorf in his powerful form, so the sage of light forced him to sleep for seven years. During that time, Hyrule became a dark place."

"What? What kind of plan is that? How could they do that? Just let Hyrule go to waste?" Link exclaimed, suddenly trying to figure out who 'they' were. The current torch extinguished, and the next one lit, leading them around the corner to a tapestry of seven diverse characters casting beams of light around a fallen monster, with the green-clad hero standing next to him.

"Once Link came of age, he sought the power of the seven sages and used them to seal Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm. Hyrule returned to peace once again. However, in order to gain the power of the seven sages, he was required to travel back and forth through time, creating rifts in the tapestry of fate. When Ganon was defeated, Zelda sent Link back to his own time, seven years before the battle. No one can explain exactly how, but this enabled the trapped keeper of the Triforce of Power to survive unbound by natural laws of death. There was little we could do about it, except this: whenever the evil rose, the two chosen by fate would appear. And so this would continue. This is the legacy."

Link reasoned, "No, Ganon tried to attack the Hyrule Castle with his army and the seven knights of Hyrule and the seven wise men fought The Imprisoning War. And there was a seal. The seal has always been intact. Hasn't it?"

Mega Man shrugged.

The next picture lit up. The voice said, "The hero went onto other adventures and met many others. His tale became a legend. Then the evil came back again, and again, and again. Each time, the land of Hyrule fell into dark times, and each time, a hero has emerged to defeat the evil and send Hyrule back to a time of prosperity."

"It is true," Mega Man said as he pointed. The picture showed a great sea dotted with tiny islands - the land of Hyrule covered by water. "What Captain Horatio said."

"No, it... it can't be," Link said. "This is not the way that it happened."

The voice continued unabated. "These pictures and their correlating volumes depict the extent of your legacy in detail. This is the last bit of knowledge I can impart unto you, the knowledge of your legend. There is no knowledge that is not power, so I can only hope that you use it to your advantage. I know not of the infinitesimal possibilities of the future since my time here. I can only hope that good shall reign and prosperity flourish. Live well, Link. May the way of the hero lead to the Triforce."

The voice became silent. Link and Mega Man kept their ears perked up, waiting for more, but none came.

"Hey, you're not done yet! You've got more explaining to do. Hey!" Link shouted angrily at the darkness. He looked at Mega Man for some sort of guidance, some way to bring the voice back, but he could say nothing.

"This..." Link paced a circle around the room, holding his arm out to the legend in pictures. "This can't be. My life isn't a mistake," he laughed. "It's impossible, I can't... I can't keep coming back for generation after generation and not even know about it. That's impossible. I'm supposed to be part of the Knights of Hyrule bloodline, not _the_ knights!"

"Nothing's impossible, not from what I've seen," Mega Man said.

"There's no... there's no..." Link stared at the back of his hand where the Triforce was, remembering the glow that had faded. "He even knew what my name would be. How many of me could there have been? How many times has this happened?" Link reached up and touched the tapestry showing his cartoonish etching, holding up his sword. "I'm... going to be doing this forever? Forever? Even after I die? I'll still be suffering, constantly having to fight, constantly having to destroy monsters and battling through temples and dungeons and wandering all over Hyrule and never getting to rest. Even after I die, I'll still be doing this. I'll never be able to stop!"

He wound up and hit the picture in the face hard. Breathing heavily, he gasped, "Why? Why me? What did I do? And Zelda!" Link returned to the center of the room, staring up at the ceiling to the invisible form responsible for all this. "Why do we have to pay for your mistake?" he screamed to no one. He received no answer for his pain.

Silence.

Link thought of how much he just wanted to quit. He was doing this all to achieve a goal that he believed could be accomplished. Now that he found out it could never be, he felt all hope draining away from him. He thought about just putting up his sword and letting evil take over the world, because maybe that's what was meant to happen. If it could survive beyond death it was clearly too powerful for a little guy like him to overcome.

Mega Man came over to Link and put a hand on his shoulder. "As strange as this sounds, I understand."

"No you don't. I'm going to be defeating Ganon over and over and over for all of time. I'll never be able to just take a rest and be able to look to the future and know that it's secured."

"Actually, I do know. Back in my world, there is a great robot scientist named Dr. Wily who uses robots to take over factories, science centers, power plants, important structures. He always engineers eight. I always have to defeat them before I can take care of Wily. And he is always able to come back. Again and again. He's done it six times, and he's always used the same method every time. If I were a human, I would think it would be very frustrating, and after a while I would wonder if there was even a point, since I would never be able to defeat him for one final time." Mega Man stepped away and stared at the poster of a dragon ship on the sea. "The work is never done, it's just a constant cycle that keeps going and going. But trying to figure out why will just make you go insane."

Mega Man saw the waning hope in his eyes and turned back to Link, opening up his hands, trying to appeal to him.

"You just have to keep pushing against the pushers, or the wall between is going to fall and crush you. The cost of peace is eternal vigilance, you always have to be ready and watching for when the next malevolent is going to rear its ugly head. It's the reason why I do the things I do."

Link looked at the first picture of Hyrule castle, bathed in bright light, looking noble and virtuous. "Did you ever find peace?" Link asked.

"I don't know. Every time I think I do, it falls apart and he comes back. It's a cycle. Evil will always exist, but so will good. If I have to be the one to ensure that justice exists, to make that sacrifice, then so be it. It's not fair, but then, neither am I."

Link looked strangely at Mega Man, not understanding what he meant.

"I mean," he continued, "I was created with abilities beyond others around me, even in terms of other robots. They may make them bigger and better, with different abilities, but I still have that special something that keeps me on top even after all these years. I don't know what it is, even my creator doesn't know. If I didn't use those abilities to help others, I wouldn't deserve them. I wouldn't have the right to keep them."

Link looked at the empty back of his hand, almost seeing the effervescent glow of the Triforce, the mark of the hero. "Almost like you were chosen..." Link thought back to all the events over the course of his life, remembering all the good times and bad times, when he was happy, when he was sad, angry, surprised, disgusted, afraid. It was more than most people ever experienced in their entire lives. All of it may have been engineered, but it was engineered for a good reason, and he was the one that could do it.

"You know why I do the things I do?" He looked back up at Mega Man and smiled. "Because of people like you."

Mega Man smiled.

"Let's go. We've got a Triforce to find."

Mega Man and Link exited the historical archive. Link briefly wondered whether he should let others know that this place exists or whether to let Zelda and the others live without the burden of such knowledge. This was not the time for that decision though, more pressing matters were at hand.

Mega Man reaccessed his map and led them to the path not taken. Soon they found themselves outside the maze and ready to head into the next level. Link withdrew his sword, ready for anything. He kicked the door open and rushed in.

Gleaming metal spikes lined the walls of this L-shaped room. Three Armos Knights were standing on the blue tiled floor. The big ones. They stood solid like statues, holding a thick harpoon in one hand and a thatched shield in the other, completely encased in metal armor. "Don't touch them," Link said, "They might-"

The statues rumbled and shook like a tremor, springing to life.

"Activate."

They had to have been sight activated, Link thought as he grabbed Mega Man and pulled him to the side. The knights began bouncing toward the two in perfect unison. They lowered their spears, as if ready to joust, with a metallic shink.

"Split up," Link said. Mega Man went left, Link went right. The knights began pursuing Mega Man exclusively.

"What do I do?" Mega Man yelped. "Are there any vulnerabilities?"

"They're made of metal. Try reasoning with them," Link shouted acerbically, as he backed away, getting his bow ready to help out.

Suddenly, he heard a magical shimmer in his ear and a presence behind him. He turned around and found a man cloaked in lime green with a cone-shaped hat shading his face, except for his glowing yellow eyes. Its hands were raised in the air, sparkling with electricity.

"Wizzrobes!" Link shouted as he dived out of the way.

The wizzrobe thrust its hands forward and a wave of blue energy shot out. Link spun around and fired his readied bow, but the wizard had already disappeared. They didn't call them masters of movement for nothing.

"Mega Man, keep on your toes, there's wizzrobes here!"

"What's a wizzrobe?" Mega Man asked as he fired his plasma cannon at the knights. The plasma was shooting cleanly through their metal armor, but their hollow shells kept coming, regardless of looking like Swiss cheese.

"They're black wizards that shoot magic beams. They disappear and reappear randomly, so watch your..."

Two wizzrobes faded into the area, surrounding Link, building up power in their arms.

"...back?"

Mega Man fired rapidly at the knights, cutting them apart. But nothing was working. Mega Man looked behind him just before he realized the spikes were about to turn him into robot-kabob. The knights leveled their spears at him.

"You like pointy things. Meet some!" Mega Man dived through a hole he had created in the center of the middle knight, and rolled to a stop. He quickly stood up and shoved him into the spikes. The impaled knight disappeared in a puff of smoke. Without hesitation, Mega Man grabbed the other two before they could turn around and shoved them into the spears with the horrendous screeching of metal. They vanished into oblivion.

Link rolled away towards the wall as the wizzrobes fired their shots. He stopped just short of running into the spines jutting out from the walls. Link scrambled to his feet and turned around, but the wizzrobes were already fading away.

"Dammit," Link exclaimed.

Mega Man switched visual acuities at a rapid pace, figuring the wizzrobes were simply cloaked, none of his sensors were registering anything, meaning it was purely magic. He switched back to normal vision.

"Behind you!" Link shouted.

Mega Man spun around and saw a shadowed face staring into him with his glowing eyes. It immediately vanished as an arrow hit it.

"That was close," Mega Man said.

"There's still one more-"

"Behind you," Mega Man shouted. He leveled his arm cannon and fired a gleaming yellow blob behind Link's head. Link ducked as the plasma shot hit the wizzrobe square in the face. He stumbled back from surprise and fell into the spikes, disappearing.

"Thanks," Link said.

The exit door opened, sensing no more evil magic in the room. Link gestured to him to follow. Mega Man ran after him, thinking it odd that despite his firing at Link's head, there were no sorts of warnings that activated that he was about to harm a human. Granted, he had never done anything to warrant such an alert, so he wouldn't know what it would look like when it happened. But if Link hadn't ducked, he would have harmed him, and his system couldn't have known what he would do. Maybe it predicted actions based on previous experience. This wasn't the time to figure it out though.

They traveled through twists and turns in the temple, winding up on a bridge over an endless chasm. Two rows of several large blocks were barricading their way. They could look over the tops of them and saw they were placed in a vague herringbone formation. Moblins were scrambling around the bridge, panicking once the heroes had entered. This told them that they were on the right track. Link fired his bow at some of the ones lagging behind, eliminating them from harm's way. The others skipped into the door on the other side of the blocks.

"We have to push these just right," Link said. "You can only push them once before they lock. I've seen this before."

Mega Man ran a quick program, analyzing the best way to push the blocks to give them an open path without blocking anything. "Here, push that one," he pointed to the upper left block. Mega Man helped him pushing the heavy tile forward. They felt it lock into place, immovable again. "Now this one." They continued pushing blocks until an open path appeared before them. Running to the end of the bridge they entered a dimly lit room with two torches on either side. Link took out his lantern and flared it up to the light the torches.

"Wow, you've got something for everything," Mega Man commented.

"It pays to be prepared."

Suddenly, a laser beam penetrated between them, leaving a scorch mark. The two fell back apart from each other and dove for cover. Two barricades were set up a little ways away, Mega Man took cover under one, while Link scrambled for the other. "Beamos!" the hero shouted. "They fire lasers at you when they see you." Mega Man peeked out from the barricade and saw three emerald green sculptures that looked like an octopus on a pedestal in a row at the other end of the room. Their tops had a small cannon that was rotating at the same rate in the same alignment. The rightmost cannon lined up with Mega Man and fired a red beam. The robot ducked just in time as the ray passed over his head.

"We'll never get through three of them unharmed." Link shouted.

"It's a line-to-sight security laser," Mega Man said. "We have to curve around them. Once we pass over the sight, we'll be fine."

"Cause a distraction?"

"Exactly."

Mega Man jumped out from the barricade and jumped around. "Hey, look at me! Look at me! Over here! Can't get me!" he jumped around while Link diagonally crossed over to the next barricade.

"Hmm," Mega Man thought. He charged up a Mega Buster shot to its highest level, popped out from the barricade and quickly shot the middle statue. The rotating cannon exploded clean off. Link smiled as the smoking statue laid at rest, satisfying his urge to defeat those cursed things. Mega Man charged his blaster two more times and defeated the other two beamos when their cannons were turned away. "Piece of cake," he said.

"Brute force and brains - the lethal combination."

They meandered around the defunct security guards and approached the next door. Link noticed the adjacent floor tiles were discolored, painted with the image of a horned skull, like an evil doormat.

"I know I've said this before," Link uttered, still looking down at the design, "But keep on your toes. I have a feeling something bad's about to happen."

Mega Man nodded and opened the door. They found themselves in an empty circular room with no discernable exit. They walked in, looking up and down for something that would solve the puzzle of this room. The door shut behind them, locking in place. They turned around startled. Mega Man was worried, but Link knew what was going on.

"Something's gonna happen," he said. "There wouldn't be an automatic lock without some way to get out." And Link knew from experience that some way didn't come without trouble.

They continued further into the room. The eerie silence felt like a heavy blanket about to smother them.

"It's quiet. Too quiet," Mega Man said. He looked up to the dark ceiling above, hiding the unknown.

"Above!" Link shouted as he headed into the center of the room. Mega Man followed him as he saw two shapes coming down at them.

Two giant piles of bones collected at opposite ends of the room, along with a sword and a shield for each of them. Mega Man's eyebrows furrowed in curiosity, as it seemed their enemies had already been defeated for them. Link, though, pulled out his sword and shield. "Stalfos, great."

Mega Man was amazed as the pile of bones in front of him spontaneously connected its ends together. The skeletal hand grabbed onto the blood red sword sitting in the pile. Its shoulder pads and helmet floated to their places as the formed body of an giant undead warrior with glowing red eyes rose from its mismatched parts. It stood nearly twice the size of either of them.

"One for each of us," Mega Man said.

"I waste no time, only Stalfos!" Link leapt forward and attacked the skeleton warrior. He blocked each of Link's furious blows with his shield, the echoes of metal on metal sounded throughout the room.

They also came from Mega Man who attempted to blast the enemy with plasma shots. The warrior simply jumped from side to side, dodging the blasts.

"Nimble little thing, aren't you?"

The skeleton lunged forward with a vertical chop of his sword. Mega Man barely scampered out of the way in time. He kicked at the skeleton's leg. The femur shot out, toppling the skeleton over into a bag of bones. "That was pretty easy."

Mega Man turned back to Link, who was defending and parrying with his opponent. "Need some help?"

Link leaned back to Mega Man, seeing what he was talking about, while still keeping his Stalfos in the corner of his eye. "No... you need... bomb..." he managed between thrusts.

"What?" Mega Man said, unbeknownst to him, as the Stalfos reassembled himself and overshadowed Mega Man. The robot turned around as he saw the dark shape. He shouted in surprise as another sword came crashing down. He dodged just in time. Mega Man thrust out with rapid-fire fists, but the skeleton warrior blocked with his shield.

Link's sword clanged against the skeleton's shield with tremendous force. The red-eyed giant dodged and blocked the incoming attacks. Link realized the direct approach was having no effect for this skilled swordsman and put up his sword. The skeleton darted back and forth getting ready for another blow. Seeing there was none, he hopped in the air and lunged forward. Link cut away and slashed him in the side, making him utter a low groan. Link continued trying to bait him into attacking.

Mega Man continued pounding with his fists of fury, causing dents in the shield but no hits on his foe. "Screw this," Mega Man said, getting impatient. He clamped his hands on the sides of the circle shield and yanked, tearing it away, along with a hand that was still attached. He flung the shield at the Stalfos neck, decapitating him. His skull flopped to the floor, lifeless. Without his head, he fell apart into a pile of bones.

"Link, a bomb!"

Link, hearing the call, quickly dug into his bag, pulled the fuse to light it, and tossed it behind him, keeping his eyes on his enemy. Mega Man caught the explosive and set it in the pile of bones, that were beginning to shake to life. Mega Man jumped out of the way and the bomb exploded mightily, sending fragments and shards and dust flying every which way. Mega Man shielded his eyes from the blast.

Link was systematically cutting his opponent down to size. He cartwheeled to the side as the Stalfos thrust forward. With magic power gathered in his blade he performed a spin attack on the Stalfos' skull, the crushing blow. The monster fell apart and his bones vaporized into puffs of blue flame.

"Good, now-"

Suddenly, the floor below them opened up in an iris too quick to escape from. The jarring ground knocked both of them off their feet and they tumbled into the pit, screaming.

The fall was short though. They landed on a dirt floor, something that immediately reminded them of a basement. As Mega Man rubbed the back of his head, and Link pulled his crumpled hazy form up from the fall, they looked at their surroundings. They were in what looked like a room for a magician or alchemist. An exit door stood behind them. The stone walls had spare shelves of flasks and candles. A wooden table rested at a strange angle near the corner of the room. Several crates were stacked in another corner. It looked like someone intelligent had been using this room.

"Look," Mega Man pointed.

Link opened his eyes and saw a table in the middle of the room with a golden triangle on it. "It can't be..." Link mumbled. The triangle was not floating on the table, but resting face-up, a little over the edge. It was colored deeply gold, a little darker than the other pieces. Link stood up and approached it, wondering if he even should, whether he should contact the princess or other authorities. Cautiously, he picked it up, holding it in both hands. He stared deeply into his reflection in the metal, tilting it up and down.

"It's... something's wrong. I'm not getting anything from it." He looked up at Mega Man. "I think it's fake."

The image of a sinister man faded into the Triforce's surface, looking like a reflection in itself.

"Very astute, boy," he said.

Link was looking into the face of Ganondorf.

**Next Chapter: Ganondorf**


	31. Chapter 31: Ganondorf

_Chapter 31: Ganondorf_

Link almost dropped the Triforce piece in surprise. Even though he had never seen him before, the man in the reflection was recognizable. Link knew him from his eyes, those dark, foreboding eyes, pock-marked with the blaze of the sun, glaring with the hatred of a thousand years. The same eyes as Agahnim, his alter ego. His long pointed nose made him look like a carrion bird. His head was crested with a dark orange jewel encrusted with silver. His flaming red hair contrasted with his dark olive-colored skin, tapering down to his scowling eyebrows, looking daggers at Link.

"That's right... you recognize me," he nodded, "Your generation knew me as Agahnim, the dark wizard."

"It can't be, I killed you. How are you doing this?" Link asked the piece of Triforce.

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. I've been watching you, you already know the truth," he laughed.

"I saw you," Link said, "I followed you down to the temple of the Triforce in the Dark World. I slayed you with my own hand."

"Haven't you learned anything, boy? I am a legend. I am infinite. I am ageless. I am the incarnation of power. How could a mortal like you expect to kill me?"

"Then it is true," Link said dejectedly. The last element of certainty locked into place. The fighting across generations, forced to be reincarnated over and over again, inexorably intertwined to two other people. "Then you've been behind all this from the beginning. How?"

"My abilities extend far beyond the reaches of space and time. They are limitless. I need no body to execute my desires."

"You designed this entire plot. You were behind the existence of the moblins."

"My creation. As vicious as the dogs they are modeled after."

"Just to lead me down here. Then there is no fourth piece of the Triforce. It was all just a hoax."

"Indeed," the Gerudo said.

"Why?"

"Don't you see? We are invariably linked... Link. The three of us. We are the three chosen ones, destined to live beyond the abilities of mere mortals. We have a legend most men dream about and can never hope to achieve. We are the personifications of the Triforce. I with power, Zelda with wisdom. You are the bridge between those two. You are the missing key to it all. The link to the past. You tread the fine line between good and evil.

"What the others don't realize is that there is no line. It's all one gray area. Good and evil do not exist. It's every man for himself out there. Everyone has to follow what's in their heart and in their mind. Do you know why Hyrule has been in such strife for so many years? Why it has remained in such a archaic state for so many millennia."

Link shook his head no.

"Because they are not united. They live in small villages in houses, barely in touch with the others. They live on farms, afraid to go out beyond their territory for fear of the next thief seeking to slit their throat. Without unity, they live in squalor, without ambition or self-improvement. These are the people who you've defended. Look at your friend there."

Link slowly turned to Mega Man, feeling disconcerted that Ganondorf knew about him.

"We should have achieved ten times the advancements that he has in all the time this land has existed. A mechanical man. Ingenious innovation. It took many unified people over the course of time to make that. And they did it."

Mega Man shrugged, "It's true." Many people researching and slaving away over computer screens and sautering irons worked to see a creation like himself come alive.

"The same goes for us, Link," the man in the mirror said.

Link turned back to him as he continued.

"We are disjointed. You and I are a Triforce without the other two pieces. We lack solidarity. But think of what we could achieve when we were united with a single purpose. The leaders of Hyrule - Zelda, you, and I - finally brought together with a common goal." Ganondorf raised his fist within the mirror to emphasize his point. "Think of the feudal suffering you've had to endure. Think of the meagerness of your life and everyone else's. It would all be ended by this. Now think of the things we could accomplish, Link. Think of the possibilities. I can see a world where we three stand in Hyrule palace, with all the Hylian people united under our leadership. Crime, starvation, disease, war, fear, all a thing of the past. Cities where people come together and work together reach to the sky. It will be glorious. It will be legendary."

Link stared at Ganondorf's grinning form in the mirror. He looked back to Mega Man who was standing idle, looking at his blue tempered armor, his child-like face framed by his form-fitting helmet. This was not his fight. He could not make the decision for him. He thought of what Ganondorf had said about his robotic friend, that they could reach that level someday. To have good people around making other good people. The way Mega Man described his world, it sounded like a utopia, where people helped each other, where they depended on each other and lifted everyone on their shoulders to the stars. He thought back to his life, all of it. He remembered all of the suffering he'd have to endure. All the trials and tribulations, the separation from the rest of the world, not quite royal, not quite a peasant. He remembered all the adventures he'd had and all the new people he'd met. And he thought of the room he'd just seen, detailing his legend in full - the good and the bad of it.

"Well, what do you say?" Ganondorf repeated.

Link turned slowly back to the golden triangle in his hand. "I say no."

"No! What's the matter, boy. Have you no ambition?"

Link responded audaciously. "That's why you always lose, Ganondorf, you have too much ambition. You don't want to unify Hyrule, you want to conquer it."

"I want a better Hyrule!"

"You want power! Don't you know how many people would be harmed by your tyranny. They'd be unified under fear of you. Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's what we've learned from the Triforce. All those who sought it to use it for its omnipotence fell into darkness. Just like you. The Triforce is a symbol of what we can become if we all work together. But not for our own ends. For the good of everyone."

"You need me, boy. You cannot exist without me. The prophecies have decreed it. Just like the Triforce is powerless without its two counterparts."

"I don't know, I seem to be just fine," Link said impetuously.

Inside the reflection, Ganondorf fumed. His jewel on his forehead seemed to glow in proportion to his rage. "You pathetic little fool! You or Zelda don't exist without me. We are forever linked, don't you realize that? You and her will be locked in a constant state of suffering as long as we are separated, to live and die over and over again, forced to find each other over and over again. I will continue long after you are dead, and I will rule the world long after you're dead and cold in the ground. I will permeate Hyrule with my power until it seeps out of the earth. You dare refuse my offer. Do you know who I am? I am Ganondorf Dragmire. I am the ultimate sorcerer of the world. I am a legend."

"A legend trapped in a tiny mirror," Link smiled.

Ganondorf looked like he was about to scream with unbridled anger in a second. Then it seemed as if a wave of calmness washed over him and returned him to a composed demeanor.

"You are useless," he spoke. "You will be caught in a constant cycle of suffering until the end of time. You are nothing more than a puppet of fate, doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past until eternity ends. Goodbye, Link. I hope you had a nice life."

"Link, look out!" Mega Man shouted.

The triangle gleamed in Link's hands. Mega Man jumped forward and plucked the false Triforce piece out of his hands before Link had time to react. The triangle's edges suddenly ejected sharp razor blades, cutting into Mega Man's hand, tearing the skin of his glove. He dropped the triangle on the pedestal where they found it.

"AAAAARRRRGH! CURSE YOU, LINK!" Ganondorf swore.

"How did you know it was going to do that?" Link asked Mega Man.

"I... I don't know. I just saw it coming. I saw something around it resonating."

"Heh, heh. Magic," Link said, pointing a finger upward, knowing he was finally adapting the world he lived in. Link and Mega Man leaned over the triangle, which had retracted it's blades as the figure in the mirror muttered loudly.

"You prying little wretch," he said to Mega Man. "You're not even supposed to be here! These are not your matters."

"I'm making them my matters," Mega Man said.

"This is not your world. You cannot survive here much longer. Despite all your advancements you can still fall to a sharpened blade just as the rest of us. In your world you may be mighty, but here you are just as helpless as a kitten. But I have the power to send you back to your own time. I know your friends are suffering."

"You don't know that, there's no way you could know that."

"They suffer without you. You must get back there immediately. I have the power to make it happen. I have the ability to open portals to other dimensions. All you need to do is put three drops of Link's blood on this pedestal."

"No deal, Ganondorf. I couldn't do that even if I wanted to. The laws of robotics prevent me from harming a human."

"You stupid mechanical man. You do what I say, or you'll never get back to your own world."

"Even if I thought I could get back home, I wouldn't like who I have to thank."

"Hey," Link piped up, "What's the deal here?"

"You ignorant fool. You don't know your own past, you don't know your own future. Look on this blasted pedestal, do you see anything? These are the ashes of the body of Ganon. By sprinkling your blood on these ashes I can live again. I will be resurrected."

Link and Mega Man scrutinized at the pedestal. Sure enough, what he thought was just dust were ashes.

"But again, you can't seem to accept your fate. It is power that's destined to take this land over. Courage and wisdom are useless, but power is where all potential is derived."

"You talk too much," Mega Man said. Link laughed uproariously at his friend's precociousness.

"No matter. Whether by myself or others, I will have my revenge. I will see the light of Hyrule again."

They heard the door behind them open and saw that the old woman was standing in front of the now locked door. The same one who had betrayed Link in the temple.

"You!" Link said, stepping closer in battle readiness. The old woman's cloak was covering her eyes and she smiled sadistically.

"Yes, Link," Ganondorf's voice came from behind. "I will exist again. Long after you are dead. If I have to lay waste to this land, I will have it. If I have to wait until the end of the world. If I have to rip my own soul out of my chest, I will have it."

The woman put her hand under her neck, like she was preparing to scratch it. She gripped the thin wrinkly skin and pulled upward. The face and cloak tore away and fell at the floor. From the costume emerged the tall form of Ganondorf in the flesh... but not quite flesh. His skin was gray and translucent. He wore a black armored tunic adorned with golden rivets. Two spiraling horns jutted out of his head and his eyes glowed with an ethereal yellow empty gaze, his lower face cloaked from his raised collar. He held a large three-pronged harpoon behind him with battle readiness.

"Remember, Link," Ganondorf said as the phantom floated up above the ground with a whooshing noise. "A legend is someone who becomes immortal by being dead."

**Next Chapter: Reflection**


	32. Chapter 32: Reflection

_Chapter 32: Reflection_

"Oh, boy," Mega Man said.

The hulking Phantom Ganon floated above the ground with a magical whooshing noise, his long black cape swishing behind him as he spun his long trident in his arms. He held up his hand in the air and particles of yellow energy began forming above his head, morphing into a globe of force With a grunt, he threw the lightning ball at the two heroes.

"Run!" Link shouted. The two split up just as the energy exploded where they had once been standing. Mega Man tumbled to the side and activated his arm cannon. He fired three plasma shots at the floating phantom. The plasma shots flew through the air and with a clink bounced off the creature's armor harmlessly.

A stunned Mega Man tried firing again but the shots hit with the pitiful sound of a hammer tapping metal and ricocheted off.

"That's impossible. The only substance that can reflect plasma is litanium," he said, remembering the various robots like met-tools that used it.

Ganondorf's voice laughed within its golden prison. "You see? You cannot defend yourselves against me. You are just as weak as your predecessors."

Mega Man glowed with energy as he charged up his Mega Buster to full blast. "Defend this," he said as he fired. The trailing sphere of blue plasma sailed through the air, direct and true at the phantom's head. He spun his spear in the air and smacked the plasma ball hard, reflecting it back to Mega Man. The speed of the shot was too quick to dodge. He absorbed the full impact of the blast and was thrown back against the wall.

"Mega Man, are you all right?" Link shouted from behind a table.

"Arrgh," he groaned as he checked his power levels, down to 25. "What sort of creature can do this?"

"It's a creature of magic," Link said from behind a table. "It can only be defeated by such."

The phantom turned his head to Link as he spoke, its lifeless yellow eyes tracking his movements.

"Oops," he said.

The phantom floated over to Link's body, swaying back and forth. He raised his trident, gathering magic blue energy in the tip and flung it at Link. Link readied his sword and sliced it through the incoming magic. The sword passed harmlessly through the formless force and collided with his body. Link was flung back against the wall, smoke wisping off his clothes.

"Ow," he said as he gathered himself.

Mega Man continued firing shots at the floating phantom, targeting different areas, each one rebounding off his impenetrable hide. "There must be a weak spot," he said.

"If only I had my Master Sword, I could reflect his shots," Link shouted above the din.

"Give up, you fools," Ganondorf shouted. "This creature is far stronger than anything you've ever faced before."

"I've apparently defeated it before too," Link quipped.

"Your predecessors had twice the brains you have. You'll never win, you pathetic puppet."

The phantom vaporized into a puff of black smoke. The two looked around curiously. "Where is he?" Mega Man said. Ganondorf simply laughed maniacally from his mirror.

Phantom Ganon winked into space behind Mega Man and speared him between two prongs of his trident, lifting him up over the ground. Mega Man shouted in surprise as he was lifted up over Ganon's head, whirled him around by the pole, and then slammed down on the ground. Link jumped into the fray to save him, holding his sword high above his head, but the phantom vanished again.

"Arrgh, how can we defeat something we can't see!" Link shouted.

"There's got to be a weak spot. There is always a weak spot." Wasn't there?

Link and Mega Man's head darted around, looking for where the phantom would show up as Ganondorf laughed maniacally in the background.

Suddenly, Link felt himself lifted up by the back of his neck and torn off the ground. Link dropped his sword and his hands immediately went to his closed off neck. Mega Man aimed his arm cannon at the phantom holding up Link, but he was moving too erratically to fire a clean shot.

"Put him down!" Mega Man shouted.

The phantom's response was to raise the hero higher in the air, bringing him closer to the pedestal with Ganon's ashes.

"You see, Link," Ganondorf said as he brought the boy over his reflective surface and his ashes. "You're nothing more than a pawn. You're strings are being pulled, you're being told what to do and how to think. You have no choices in life, you are manipulated into the role you're playing. You are a worthless puppet of fate."

Phantom Ganon brought the trident closer to Link's neck, the hooked prong ready to slit. Link managed to grip onto the phantom's weapon-holding wrist.

"I may be a puppet," Link said. "But it takes three to put on a show."

Link kicked out his feet, getting a hold on the pedestal, and pushed it over, spilling the triangle and Ganon's ashes on the floor.

"NOOOO!" Ganondorf shouted.

Link, still holding onto his wrist, tightened up his stomach and flipped over, loosening the phantom's grip. He kicked the monster in the face and darted to the ground, landing next to Mega Man. He helped himself up and stood by his compatriot.

"I don't care if I have to follow you to the end of time. I'll still be here, ready to take you down," he said as he picked up his sword.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Ganondorf screamed.

The phantom held the trident over his head. A great pool of dark purple energy swirled about as the monster churned the storm. Small tendrils of lightning spread out over it. A flurry of small globules came raining down on them from the black magic storm. Link and Mega Man scattered apart, trying to dodge the deadly rain.

The phantom floated closer to the two as his magic spell did his dirty work. Ganondorf laughed like crazy as Mega Man and Link scattered throughout the room, crawling on hands and knees through the dingy dungeon. Mega Man aimed his arm cannon and fired an idle plasma shot at the triangle. "Don't you ever shut up?"

The plasma shot reflected off the metal and flew upwards to the ceiling. The phantom hovering near the triangle flew back in surprise as the bullet sailed upwards in front of his face. Mega Man could tell he was startled in a fearsome way. Link saw it too, suspicious of the action.

"A moment to reflect?" Mega Man asked.

"But of course."

Link scrambled across the room and rolled over the remains of the spilled pedestal, picking up the idle shard as the magic rain thinned out. He stood up and held it in front of his chest with Ganondorf facing outward. Mega Man fired his plasma cannon at the triangle in an angle so that the shot ricocheted and hit the phantom. It absorbed into his body instead of bouncing off, but he still kept coming. Mega Man continued firing rapid shots, but they had no visible effect on him as he began rolling particles of black energy into his hand again.

Ganondorf laughed. "It's going to take a lot more than that to defeat my creation, ha ha ha!"

As Ganondorf laughed, Mega Man closed his eyes and withdrew into his internal system, diving around programs until he found and activated his weapon copy circuitry. The color of his armor washed to a solid gold, glistening in the candlelight. His arm cannon whirred as circuitry and wires switched and reconnected. On his indicator, the selected 'Triforce' glowed with a determined aura. Ganondorf stopped laughing as he sensed the immense power Mega Man was carrying.

"How convenient. I just happen to have a lot more than that."

Link stepped back, ready to brace himself should something go wrong. Mega Man raised his cannon, putting his other hand on his arm to steady himself.

Mega Man fired. There was a second delay as the weapon built up energy emitting a high-pitched whine. The barrel shot forth a giant beam of shining gold energy, sparkling like stars, massively crashing into the golden triangle. Ganondorf shouted in rage, overshadowed by the thrumming sound of the beam. It reflected off at an angle and struck the Phantom Ganon in the chest stopping it suddenly, frozen in air. Mega Man continued firing the beam into the triangle and off into the monster, beginning to feel the energy build-up of the beam reaching critical levels. Its power level was not draining as he fired. Link kept one foot behind himself to brace for the massive force pushing him back. The beam's power finally penetrated the monsters armor, spreading through his body like cracks, glowing yellow with power. It began shaking uncontrollably.

"No! No! NOOO!" Ganondorf yelled.

The Triforce Beam began causing fractures in Ganondorf's mirror, making horrible cracking sounds, white light permeating through. Mega Man pushed the last little bit of energy he could in and stopped firing, pulling back his arm. Link turned his head away just as the mirror shattered into a mighty explosion of millions of pieces. The phantom exploded with a magnificent blue fiery burst just like the mirror. White light bathed the room, and Link and Mega Man shielded their eyes they retreated back to the walls blinded.

The light subsided, but a low rumbling began within the walls. A faint humming sound could be heard. Mega Man looked where it was coming from and saw a great rotating circle sparkling black and gold, swelling like water, floating above the air where Link was holding Ganondorf's triangle. Both the phantom and the evil sorcerer's laughter were no more.

"Link?" Mega Man shouted.

"I'm here," Link said, brushing himself off. He looked at the glowing circle. "What is it?"

"It looks like... the same portal that brought me here." Link walked around it and stood looking at it with Mega Man. On a whim, Mega Man tried to establish a comm connection to Light's computer. To his surprise, the connection found a receiver. "It is! This is the way home," he said. "It must have been an effect of the Triforce beam and Ganondorf's magic."

"The Triforce works in mysterious ways," Link said.

A large rock fell to the ground near Link as the ground began shaking.

"You better get out of here, this place is about to fall apart." Link held out his hand to Mega Man. "No time for long goodbyes. It's been good working with you," he said.

Mega Man returned the handshake. "And it's been good working with you. Maybe someday we'll meet again."

"Maybe."

"I'll always remember you."

"And I won't forget you." Inside, Link's heart was breaking a little. He had finally made a friend who understood him, who he could fight alongside with, and he had to leave. Stones and boulders began raining around them, but the two friends were oblivious to the chaos. "Go ahead, go," Link said, urging him on with a nod of his head and a sad smile.

"Thanks for everything," Mega Man said. He leapt up and jumped into the portal. The circle bulged as it accepted Mega Man's body, then returned. He was gone.

Link sighed as he thought of all the experiences he had been on. He contemplated jumping into the portal after him for a brief moment, then thought better of it. He was needed here, in Hyrule. He also had a role to play

A large rock fell into the table, collapsing it in the middle with a thunderous boom, signaling it was time to leave. He turned his head to the ceiling, looking for any stones about to crush him. The ground was shaking tremendously now, it was taking concentration just to maintain his balance. The rocks were coming down so fast he now hastened to the door, skidding to a stop. He reached out for the handle.

Suddenly, he noticed a gathering shadow at the door's edge. He looked up and saw a pile of rocks about to come down on him. Just in time, he practically fell out of the way as the boulders piled up at the door, blocking his way out. Small pebbles bounced off the humongous stones. Link tried pulling one off but it was too heavy.

"Uh-oh," Link said as he jerked his head left and right, looking for another door. The severity of the collapse began to worsen, the room was about to cave in any second. And he had no way out.

Except the portal.

One of the support pillars at the wall tumbled down with a great crash. Link looked around desperately for another exit, a trap in the floor, a ladder in the ceiling, anything. The entire room had become a waiting death trap for him if he didn't move. He turned around and looked at the glowing circle.

"Oh, great. I hope this doesn't hurt."

With a shout, he bolted for the swirling vortex, dodging the raining boulders. Spreading his body out, he dived in headfirst. The portal swallowed him up, just as the gigantic ceiling of the cavern collapsed in on itself, burying the portal and all the room.

* * *

**END PART 1**

**Part 2 can be found in the _Mega Man_ category or under my profile in 'Stories Authored' - Story ID:2864203**


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